My Love
by brightredcherries
Summary: After her heart being broken by Atem, Tea tries to move on with her life, but everything reminds her of him...that is, until Seto Kaiba walks in her life and begins to slowly fill the whole in her heart. TeaxSeto...
1. Misery

**Sooooo, it's been like years since I've written a YGO story...and I haven't even finished those...but recently, I've had a sudden change of heart about a particular pairing. I remember when I used to hate the idea of Tea being with Kaiba...but now I like it. Agghh, is the world coming to an end? No jk, but really I've just recently fallen in love with this pairing (no worries, I'm still loyal to Tea and Atem/Yami/other variation to his name pairing) and I'm just intrigued by the variation of stories that I've come across...so I thought I'd give it a try as well :D So here it is...I was inspired to write this based on a song I heard on the Eclipse soundtrack. Enjoy!**

My Love

Pairing: TeaxSeto, slight Tea/Atem, etc.

Summary: After her heart being broken by Atem, Tea tries to move on with her life, but everything reminds her of him...that is, until Seto Kaiba walks into her life and begins to slowly fill the whole in her heart.

BTW, I don't own YGO or any of the song lyrics in any given chapter. Everything goes to their rightful owners...

_I remember when we kissed,_

_I still feel it on my lips,_

_The time that you danced we me,_

_With no music playing,_

_I remember the simple things,_

_I remember 'til I cry,_

_But the one thing I wish I'd forget,_

_The memory I wanna forget, _

_is goodbye..._

_~Goodbye-Miley Cyrus_

Misery

* * *

Today marked two years since Atem left for the afterlife. Ever since, Tea has been a lifeless corpse...literally. Lately, she'd been going about her days feeling like she was a wind-up toy. She had to push herself physically and mentally to go about her day working two jobs and going to school. Since Atem's departure, Tea didn't really interact with the gang that much, except for Yugi. Even that was starting to cause her more unbearable pain and suffering. Yugi was a smaller, but gentle clone of Atem.

It got to the point where sometimes she'd just sit in her room moping at staring blankly into space. She felt like Atem leaving had punched a wide hole right throw her heart...or what was left of it. For the last few days, her mother had only witnessed a taste of her misery. To Tea, a few days was nothing compared to the actual two years she's been in pain. Everyday for her was like being burned at the stake. At this point, she was just numb...feeling and seeing nothing.

Tea was just returning from her job at Hollister on a late Friday night. Just like any other day in the summer...nothing but work. She worked at Hollister and another boutique in the city. After shutting her car door, she realized that her mother was sitting on the porch, seeming like she was waiting for her.

"Hey, Mom." Tea muttered, plainly.

"Honey, we need to talk, now. I think it will be best for you if we just move out of Domino. This...what you're doing isn't healthy. The way you're moping over this boy is ridiculous." Mrs. Gardner told her, sternly.

"No, Mom, I don't want to move. Domino is my home...and plus, I've already enrolled in college here. I don't mind that you go away on business, I can take care of myself." Tea responded, trying to reason with her mother.

"Tea, I'd love to let you stay, dear, but I think the city just reminds you of him...and it kills me to see you so upset." Mrs. Gardner added, sighing.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I promise, I'll be okay...don't worry." She lied, biting her lip.

Tea hated lying to her mother...but she knew that her mother wouldn't understand how much pain she was in. Her mother was too judgemental to understand. Day and night, she thought about nothing but that day he walked through the light and how the stones walls closed in. She thought and dreamed of no one but him.

"Well, if you're sure...I have to leave tonight. I'll call you when I get in Italy." Mrs. Gardner said, kissing her daughter before dragging her suitcases to the taxi that pulled up in front of their house.

_Leave it to Mom to always leave, _Tea thought, retreating into her house.

Like always, it was her...and no one else. Her father and mother divorced when she was little and her father moved and remarried. Her mother being a businesswoman didn't help much...she was never around. Tea was used to it, since she was practically raising herself anyway, so it wouldn't be much different.

After setting her purse down in the living room, she went into the kitchen to see if there was anything she could eat. Seeing nothing that she wanted in sight, she looked up at the clock on the wall..

_9:30 _

_Well, it sure doesn't feel like it's nine thirty at night, _Tea thought, passively. She walked back into the living room and turned the TV on. The first thing she was a romantic movie. She was in so much misery that the thought of romance was too much for her. After quickly changing the channel to the news, she looked through her purse to find her wallet. She found at least one hundred bucks in cash at the given moment.

_Maybe I'll just go out and get something, _Tea thought, grabbing her keys and heading out again. She wasn't sure what restaurants would be open at this time of night, but she was willing to try and find one. After pulling out of her driveway, Tea drove down the street thinking. She thought about her mother was close to forcing her to leave Domino. She still couldn't believe that her mother would consider pulling her away from her home. Though everything reminded her of Atem, Domino was where she grew up and it was the last thing that kept her sane while she was going through her rough time.

_I just hate how she tries to raise me, yet she's never been around. Why would they have a kid if they weren't going to raise it? _She thought, gripping the steering wheel tighter. The only times her mother was ever around is when it was the holidays. She always spent three days at home and then had to leave.

Leaving her bitter thoughts about her mother alone, Tea managed to find a little, yet fancy Thai restaurant in the inner city. Just the thought of food took over her senses and her stomach began to growl.

_Eh, I guess I should have taken my lunch break, _She thought, locking her door before she walked in.

xxxxx

"Seto? SETO?" Mokuba asked, snapping Seto out of his thoughts, "Are you listening?"

"Uhhh, yeah, I heard you, Mokuba." The young CEO said, passively, as he attempted to keep his eyelids open. He spent the last two days trying to make arrangements with a client and only succeeded in getting two hours of sleep. He forgot that he was even out at a restaurant with his brother.

_Damn, that would be messed up shit if I feel asleep in a restaurant full of people, _He thought, noticing that Mokuba was done eating.

"Hey, how's everything?" The waitress asked, sounding a little too peppy for Kaiba's taste.

"Can I just have the check?" Kaiba asked, grumbling a little, _Great...now I have a freaking migrane!_

"Sure, back in a sec." She muttered, leaving.

"Ugghh, everything is making my head hurt. I need some aspirin." Kaiba mentioned, rubbing his temples.

"I told you before...you need a vacation, bro. The way you work makes an alcoholic look good." Mokuba told him, in a 'told you so' kind of way.

"Mokuba, vacations aren't my thing." Kaiba said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, the least you could do is nail a chick." Mokuba added, making Kaiba to do a spit take with his water.

"What?" Kaiba questioned, staring wide eyed at his fifteen year old brother. He couldn't believe that Mokuba even knew what that meant or even the fact that he was trying to give him advice about women. Seeing as how the young CEO had women literally falling over him, he'd been with plenty of women and lost his virginity already. However, it still puzzled him why Mokuba would know something like that.

_I guess I'm so used to him being little and being clueless about teenage stuff, _He thought.

"You heard me. You're nearly twenty one years old and you're sexually frustrated. I mean, really...when was the last time you've been with a girl?" Mokuba asked, trying not to laugh at his brother.

"I've been with girls." Kaiba argued, slipping a hundred dollar bill into the little black case with the receipt, "And since when have you been obsessed with my sex life?"

"Seto, really, I'm fifteen. I've heard about the birds and the bees. By next year, half of my graduating class will have already done it." Mokuba told him, giving him a serious look, "And I'm not obsessed with your sex life."

"Okay, really, enough sex talk. I need to find a drug store to get some aspirin." Kaiba replied, as they exited the restaurant. After looking around, he noticed there was a drug store right down the street from the restaurant. While they were walking down the street, Kaiba noticed his brother was texting...another habit that he developed. He wasn't going to lie to himself, he texted too...but not as much as his younger sibling. He wondered if he'd been texting girls, seeing as how he brought up the whole sex thing earlier.

"Speaking of the girl subject, have you...?" Kaiba asked, raising a brow at his younger brother.

"In other words, Mokuba..are you a virgin? Yes, Seto, I can honestly say that I'm a virgin." Mokuba answered, chuckling at his brother.

"That's not what I was implying, but good to know." Kaiba muttered, somewhat smiling. As he entered the drug store with the white lights, it made his migrane worse, "Ugghh, let's hurry up so I can get out of here!"

As they walked down aisles to find aspirin, Kaiba could feel people looking at him. They seriously acted like they've never seen anyone walk into a drug store.

_Damn people...all I need is aspirin. I'm just like anyone else...except I'm a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, _He thought, finally finding the aspirin. He quickly picked up two bottles and headed towards the register. Not being too careful as to where he was going, he ran into someone who dropped something out of their arms.

"Hey! Watch it!" Kaiba shouted, noticing that he recognized who he ran into, "What are you doing here, Gardner?"

"Nothing...just..getting stuff." Tea murmurred, quietly picking up the box of tampons she dropped. She immediately felt embarrassed. She couldn't believe that she dropped a box of tampons in front of Kaiba.

_God, this is soooo embarrassing! _She thought, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. She looked up at his glare on her. He was in a long, black trenchcoat with a pale blue dress shirt and black pants. Even when he was looking grumpy and rude, she thought he looked incredibly hot.

_Wait, where the hell did that come from?_

"Well, watch where you're going next time!" He scolded, huffing at her.

"Yeah...sure..," Tea muttered, leaving the store without another word. Kaiba found that to be odd. Even though he didn't hang out with her that much, he knew she would never pass up a opportunity to yell back at him for being a jerk. Something was wrong with that picture...

"I feel so bad for her...she's been like that for two years." Mokuba muttered, approaching Kaiba's side, "I thought she'd move pass it by now...but I guess not. She looks like all the life has been sucked right out of her."

"I agree, Mokuba. She'd never turn down so quickly if we get into it. I guess Gardner's not taking Atem leaving too well." Kaiba concurred, watching her walk to her car. He wondered how such a headstrong and confident person like Tea could turn in a sulking mess like she was acting lately. It must have sucked for someone you really care about just leave the way Atem left her.

_Wait, since when did I care about Atem or Gardner? _He thought, focusing more on his annoying migrane. Just before getting into his limo, Kaiba watched Tea sulking to her car and carelessly throwing her bag in the passenger seat next to her. He couldn't help but take in her beauty. Even with her dark hair wrapped into a messy bun, thick but somewhat muscular figure, and casual attire, she looked undeniably beautiful.

"Seto, what are you staring at?" Mokuba asked, once again snapping his older brother out of his thoughts.

"Nothing. Let's just go." He growled, as the door to the limo shut behind him.

* * *

_"No, Atem...please don't do this..I need you." Tea cried, holding her hand out for him._

_"I'm sorry, Tea. I don't belong in this time. I need to be back where I belong." Atem told her, as his figure started to disappear._

_"But...but what about us? What am I supposed to do?" Tea questioned, while she was blubbering._

_"Tea. You don't need me...you're strong and courageous. Please, just promise me that even though I can't be with you anymore, move on with your life and be happy. That's the best that I wish for you." He explained, gently, before more of him disappeared._

_"No, come back...COME BACK!" She shouted, noticing that Kaiba's figure appeared in place of Atem's. This made no sense. _

_"Ka...Kaiba?" She stammered, not getting her question out correctly._

_"Ti voglio...," Kaiba's figure said, advancing towards her. She recognized the figure was speaking Italian, the second language she knew very well._

I want you...

Wait...he wants me? Why? What's going on and why is Kaiba in my dream?_ She thought, getting a little scared. She noticed that the setting around them changed...she was now in a huge bedroom type setting._

_"Venite a me, amore mio." Kaiba added, holding out his hand to her._

Come to me, my love...

_"Wait! Why are you saying this? You hate me...and I'm not your love. Where is Atem?" Tea asked, freaking out a little bit. She was still in disbelief that Kaiba was speaking to her in such a manner that would only happen when the world came to an end._

_"Ha lasciato, ricordi? T__é, l'amore, per favore. Ho aspettato per tanto tempo." He pleaded, embracing her in his arms, though she didn't notice until she felt his warm hands touch her back._

He left remember? Tea, my love, please. I've waited for you for so long...

_"Wha...what's happening to me? Why is this...?" Tea sighed, as she collapsed to the ground._

"Ahhh," Tea murmurred, shooting up from her bed. She realized that it was all a dream. A terrorizing yet, freaky dream.

_Why is my mind replaying the same bad dream of Atem leaving? More importantly, why had Kaiba shown up in my dream? _She thought, moving her messy swept bangs out of her face. As she started to get out of bed, she thought of how weird it was that she was dreaming about Kaiba. When it came to her and her friends, Kaiba rather be dead than to be caught with them. So what channeled her to dream about him?

"I mean, I did use to have a crush on him...but that was when I first started high school." She muttered, walking in her bathroom. Her reflection showed a girl who was suffering. She had heavy bags underneath her eyes. Her eyes didn't have the same healthy glow in them like it used to.

_I look like a mess...but I just can't get it over it. Everything reminds me of him, _She thought, washing her face. After patting her face dry, she went downstairs to make herself breakfast before she was off to work again. While she was fixing herself a bowl of cereal, she was watching the news to see what was going on.

_"At the top of the news, the polls for the 32nd annual Domino Music Awards have officially opened online today at midnight. Be sure to vote for you favorite artists now." The news reporter explained, in the obvious staged voice._

_I guess things are pretty uneventful around here, _Tea thought, going to back to eating her cereal. A few seconds later, she received a text message. Like any other day, it was an automatic text from Facebook. It was a status update from Joey.

_Class at 11, then off to hang out with the gang. Good day ahead of me._

_It was always like Joey to make the best of things and have fun, _She thought, getting another text from Serenity.

_Hey, we need to hang soon. I miss u :)_

Tea immediately felt bad. She just remembered that she hadn't spent a lot of girl time with Serenity. It was hard to believe that Serenity grew up into such a great young woman in the last four years. Her junior year in high school was almost coming to an end and she'd be graduating in another year. Tea decided to text her back.

_I miss u too :( Lunch Saturday?_

After looking at the clock, Tea decided to get dressed for work in her proper attire so that she wouldn't be late. Hopefully, today wouldn't be another bad day.

xxxxx

Mokuba had just finished taking a shower when the news report went off. He changed the channel to some random soap opera. While he was getting ready to go shopping, he felt really excited that Kaiba decided to let him drive to mall. He just finished driver's training almost a month ago, but he had to wait until he had enough driving hours to get his licenese. Since he's finished, he's been begging Kaiba to let him drive around town.

In addition to his excitement, the thought of Kaiba working too much lingered his mind too. He hated that his brother never got enough sleep over the last few months. He understood that it was important to maintain KaibaCorp as a high status company, but he didn't think that it was worth staying up pass twenty four hours.

_I mean, all he does is work twenty four seven. He deserves to have some time off, _Mokuba thought, putting on his white t-shirt and fixed his now short hair. His hair was short with small swept bangs that were cut just above his eyebrows and was swept above his right eyebrow. Over the last few years, Mokuba grew to be at least five foot seven and still had his youthful eyes. He quickly sprayed himself with his Axe body spray, grabbed his wallet and aviators and left his room. Eventually, he met Kaiba downstairs in the living room.

"It's about time. I was about to start twidling my thumbs." Kaiba mentioned, making Mokuba give him a look.

"Sorry I take pride in my hygiene. You never know, while we're at the mall, I may pick up just a few more girls than you have." Mokuba snided, smirking. Kaiba couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's smart comeback.

"Keep dreaming, kid. There's no competition when it comes to women. I have you beat." Kaiba told him, handing him the one of many car keys he owned.

"Yes! The new BMW, score!" Mokuba exclaimed, rushing to the car and getting in the driver's seat.

"Now, I'm trusting you with this car, Mokuba. Please, don't do anything destructive to this car." Kaiba warned him, plainly. Mokuba gulped, as he turned the keys in the ignition.

_Leave it to Seto to give me unneeded pressure, _He thought, pulling out of the driveway and onto the road. While Mokuba was driving, he thought about what stores he'd be going to at the mall. He normally went to Pacsun, American Eagle, and Hot Topic for most of his clothes...but he had other plans in mind.

_Well, the last time I talked to Tea, she said she worked at Hollister. It wouldn't hurt to stop by and chat, _Mokuba thought, smiling to himself.

"Something funny?" Kaiba asked, noticing his brother's smile.

"Ooohhh, nothing." Mokuba replied, still smiling.

"Okay, what's the real reason we're going to the mall?" Kaiba questioned, raising a brow.

"Like I said, I'm going shopping and I need you to be my wingman, just incase chicks wanna get to know me." Mokuba explained, again.

"Me? Be your wingman? That's got to be the dumbest thing you've ever said to me. I can't even begin to explain how wrong that sentence was." Kaiba said, giving his younger brother the most disturbed look.

"Why are you doubting my ability to pick up girls?" Mokuba asked, pouting a little bit.

"I'm not doubting your...skills, but it's a little hard to be your wingman when I'm the one used to getting the women." Kaiba mentioned, twitching his eyes a little bit.

"Come on, Seto. I need someone to help me." Mokuba pleaded. Kaiba knew there was going to be a puppy dog pout coming, if it weren't for the fact that Mokuba was driving on the highway.

"Fine, I'll do it." Kaiba said, caving before he even made an effort to resist, _How the hell am I going to have the patience to watch fifteen year old kids flirt? Someone please kill me!_

After finding a parking spot close to the door, Kaiba and Mokuba got out and walked into the huge Domino Mall. Mokuba was really glad that his brother agreed to go with him. Other than shopping for himself, he intended for this shopping trip to get him away from work. For a while, they decided that they would go wherever Mokuba wanted to go, but Kaiba would be behind the scenes incase any girls approached him.

_This is gonna be a good day, _Mokuba thought, smiling as they went about their way.

* * *

"Your total is 115.45." Tea said, in a perky, upbeat voice. Though she knew she wasn't in the mood she was portraying to paying customers, she needed her job and did whatever she needed to in order to keep it.

"Thank you, have a wonderful day." Tea added, as the teenage customer left.

"Thanks for covering for me, Tea. I owe you." Her co-worker, Darlene told her, smiling.

"No problem." Tea responded, going back to helping organize the merchandise. While she was refolding some of the clothes, Tea thought more about how she dreamed about Kaiba last night. She didn't get it...she understood why she was having nightmares about Atem, but Kaiba popping in is what confused her. Especially the way he was speaking to her in Italian. The vibe he gave off was compassionate, loving, romantic, and seductive as if he were trying to hypnotize her.

_The odd thing about it was that even though I was telling him I hated what he was doing...I could feel myself being pulled by him, like he was a really strong magnet, _She thought, shuddering. After a little bit of folding, she saw out of the corner of her eye that someone was walking in.

"Hey, welcome to the Pier." She greeted, realizing that it was Mokuba she was giving the greeting to.

"Hey, Tea!" He greeted, happily.

"So, what are you doing here?" Tea asked, feeling stupid, _He's there to shop, idiot._

"Just doing some shopping...and trying to get Seto to take a break from working, but that plan went down the drain fast. Apparently he spotted on of the people he used to work with and they stopped for coffee at Starbucks." Mokuba responded, shrugging.

"Geez, that sucks. Anyway, how have you been?" Tea asked, cheerfully while she continued folding the guys shirts.

"Eh, I've been holding on. You know, finishing my first year of high school." Mokuba told her, looking through the shirts, "How's college been? Are you still going for dancing?"

"Actually, no. I don't really have a passion for dancing like I used to, but I'm going for music. I'm in theatre too." Tea told him, bashfully.

"Yeah, I went to the production your school held last year at the Domino City Grand Hall. I forgot the name, but it had that song Seasons of Love." Mokuba commented, remembering the show happily.

"Yup, they did Rent. I didn't actually perform in that musical, but I helped with costumes." Tea explained.

"Maybe we should finish this discussion some other time. I don't want you to get in trouble." Mokuba said, forgetting that Tea was supposed to be working.

"Oh no, it's not a problem. Now that I think about it, I'm supposed to be on my lunch break. Come on." Tea told him, walking out of the store.

"Cool. So, are you going to actually be in the next musical?" Mokuba questioned, curiously.

"Uh yeah. The last two musicals that the school put on were ones I weren't interested in. This year, everyone's betting that it's either Phantom of The Opera or Chicago. Either or would be fine with me." Tea commented, as they arrived at the food court, "What do you want?"

"Taco Bell. I've been craving it all day." Mokuba responded, nearly drooling at the thought of it, "If you guys do which ever musical, I think you should go for the lead."

"Yeah, a lot of people in my music performance class think the same thing. They've all heard me play my acoustic guitar and makeup little tunes. I mean, I'm kind of scared because there are so many people who get really competitive. Plus, for me at least, this year won't be the same. Right after the musical this year, I'm performing a recital for the talent scouts that are supposed to be coming to recruit students. If my performance is really good, I could get into a really good record label." Tea explained, while they were waiting in line.

_Wow, I had no idea this meant so much to her, _Mokuba thought, looking at the look in her eyes, "Looks like this is major stuff. Well, one day I'll just have to listen to you."

"You just may...soon." Tea smiled, happily. This was the first Mokuba had seen her smile in two years. This was the side of Tea that he missed the most, and he was positive Yugi and the others did too. While Mokuba was getting wrapped in the time he was spending with Tea, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

"Hello?" He asked, casually.

"_Where are you?_" Kaiba's voice asked, plainly.

"Uhh, I ran into Tea and we're getting food. I'll be back in like twenty minutes tops." Mokuba told him, patiently.

"_All right. See you then._" Kaiba responded, as they both hung up.

"Was it your brother?" Tea asked, knowing that it was Seto.

"Yeah. I guess he's done talking with his old friend." Mokuba said, shrugging, "Eh, he can wait. It won't kill him."

"Yeah, I rather not have your brother want to rip me to pieces." Tea murmurred, quietly. Once they got their food, Tea and Mokuba caught up some more. Tea realized that Mokuba had gained so much wisdom and he was starting to become a very intelligent young man. She hoped that when he was older that he would keep the same kind-heartedness he has now. She told him a little bit about school and how she's started to write songs in the last two years.

"Oh, wow! We should get going, Tea. Seto's going to be pissed." Mokuba gasped, realizing the time on his phone.

"That's okay, Mokuba. I have to get back to work anyway. I still had a great time catching up." Tea told him, as they approached Hollister.

"There you are. I was beginning to get worried." Tea heard Kaiba say, turning around to see him walking up to Mokuba.

"I'm sorry we took so long. We were catching up...," Mokuba started, before Tea cut him off.

"It's my fault, Seto. I kept Mokuba longer than he needed to be. So, don't be mad at him." Tea told Kaiba, as his eyes flickered to hers. She felt a lot of heat rising to her cheeks. She tried not to faint from his to die for hotness. He was wearing just a casual long sleeve shirt that was buttoned all the way up to his neck with khaki trousers and black dress shoes. The black made his eyes stand out more than before. They were more sharp and defined, while his blue eyes were more noticeable.

_Oh my God, he's sooooo gorgeous, _She thought, realizing she almost started daydreaming.

"Well, I appreciate the honesty, Gardner. Just make sure it doesn't happen again." He responded, in his normal tone that made him sound like a jerk.

While he was looking at her huge, blue eyes that almost looked like icy water, he couldn't help but realize how adorable she looked, even though she always looked depressed. She was wearing a light red and navy plaid shirt rolled up to her elbows. It showed off the tattoo on one wrist that said 'Motivation' in neat cursive, while on the other wrist it had a black peace sign. Her dark, denim shorts showed off part of her thighs and curvy figure. He realized that she had another tattoo along the left side of her right foot that had a quote on it with a treble clef.

_God, I want to do everything to her...wait, what is this ridiculous shit that's going through my head? _Seto thought, getting back to reality, "Well, I'm pretty sure that you two enjoyed yourselves, but we have to get going."

"It was nice seeing you again, Mokuba." Tea told him, ignoring what Seto

"No good-byes for me, Gardner? I thought we were friends." Kaiba smirked, being sarcastic. Mokuba, on the other hand, took the witty banter as flirting.

"Bye, _Mokuba_." Tea said agaim emphasizing that she was talk to specifically Mokuba.

"Heh, I love I end up being your wingman no matter what." Mokuba told his brother, rolling his eyes as he went back to shopping.

"Hey, you either got it or you don't. Plus, how are you being my wingman? I wasn't flirting with Gardner if that's what you're implying." Kaiba replied, scoffing a little bit.

"Mmmhmmm, sure you weren't." Mokuba muttered, laughing to himself.

"Trust me, Mokuba, if I wanted Gardner, I'd have her." Kaiba said, trying hard not to get too wrapped up in his statement.

While he kept up with his younger brother, his mind flickered back to a certain female. He didn't know what it was about Tea, but something about her intrigued him. He knew that she used to have a crush on him when they were both in high school. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he felt really bad that Tea was suffering so much over the last two years.

_Even though the Geek Squad annoys the hell out of me, I wouldn't wish losing someone close to you on anyone, _He thought, continuing to walk before he saw yet another Kaiba fan on her phone. She was most likely texting friends of hers that he was at the mall to begin with.

_Don't press send...please, for God's sake, don't press send!_ He thought, nervously biting his lip as the girl pressed the button anyway.

"Seto, what's...oh no." Mokuba mumbled, noticing a mob of Kaiba fans coming their way, "We have to run, don't we?"

"Let's go." Kaiba said, as him and Mokuba went straight into sprinting towards any exit.

* * *

**Soooo, I thought the first chapter was okay...just getting things going. There's always more to come.**

**Next time: All thanks to Mokuba, Tea and Seto start encountering each other more while Seto's feelings for Tea start shifting. Will Tea's feelings take the same turn or will she just stick with Kaiba disliking her? Will she ever get over Atem's departure to the afterlife? R&R plz!**

**Cherriez :)**

**Oh, before I forget here are some sidenotes for some of the stuff in this chapter...**

1- Mokuba's hair cut was inspired by Chace Crawford's hair. You can check out the link on my profile or find a picture in Google images.

2- Since only the Japanese ages make the most sense, I'll be using the Japanese ages, not the US version. Since my story advances two years after Atem leaves, that'll make Yugi, Joey, Tea, Kaiba, and Tristan twenty, Mokuba fifteen, and Serenity is seventeen.


	2. Speechless

**So I'm pretty pleased with the reviews I got! I was so worried that I wasn't going to get any at all, but I'm very grateful for the ones I've received. Thank you guys so much :) I appreciate it immensely.**

**Again, I don't own anything YGO or ****ANY**** song lyrics used in the chapter...everything goes to their rightful owners.**

_I'll never talk again, oh boy, you've left me speechless,_

_You've left me speechless, so speechless,_

_And I'll never love again, oh boy, you've left me speechless,_

_You've left me speechless, so speechless..._

_~Speechless-Lady Gaga~_

Speechless

* * *

It was a cool, peaceful Friday in March. Since it was getting closer to the end of the month, Tea spent part of her evening trying to start writing another song she was working on for her recital in December. She only had one songs out of the four she needed. She was comfortably wearing her long sleeve, Victoria's Secret Pink sleepshirt that read _'I only sleep in PINK' _while she was coming up with little tunes on her acoustic guitar.

"We can dance...you and I...ehhh." Tea murmurred, tapping her fingers impatiently against her guitar, "You make me feel, like I'm living...,"

(A/N: Sorry to interrupt, but can you guess what artist I'm basing Tea on just by looking at the lyrics she's singing? The only clue I'm giving is that she's my favorite artist outside of Lady Gaga.)

Before she could get another lyric out, she heard her phone vibrate beside her on her pillow. After touching her finger on the screen, she realized that she got a text from Serenity.

_I can do lunch tomorrow, but I can't hang out after :( I'm hanging out with Tristan for our one year._

_Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. I'm glad at least one of us girls still holds onto their relationship. I've never known what's that like, _Tea thought, smiling to herself a little before she texted Serenity back...

_That's okay, Serenity. Some time is better than none to me...congrats to you and Tristan :)_

Once she was done, Tea went back to writing more music, "I might get your heart racing, in my skin tight jeans...yeah that's great!"

While she was trying to work out some more tunes and chords, Tea thought about her encounter with Seto the other day. She noticed that he hadn't changed at all in the last two years. Still arrogant, boastful, selfish, and rude.

_You'd think as a boy he'd mature at some point, but his so called maturity just turned into an ass, _She thought, rolling her eys at the thought of him. Then again, lately she couldn't stop thinking about him after the dream she recently had about him. Tea still didn't understand why she was dreaming about Kaiba when he wasn't the one haunting her and making her want to break down and cry everyday.

The thought of his name just brought about what something inside her _really _thought of him. His eyes were a deep blue that made you want to get lost in them. She couldn't help but describe him as incredibly hot and gorgeous. She knew that he did have somewhat of a caring side. He cared about Mokuba as if he were his own child, instead of his brother.

_I still don't understand why I dreamt of him...I don't like like Kaiba anymore like when I was in high school, _She thought, trying to convince herself otherwise...but this time it was different. She never felt like she was in denial...until now.

xxxx

While he was busy typing on his laptop, Seto had absolutely no type of focus. Him and Mokuba were in his office, except Mokuba was the only one not doing any work...at least that's what Mokuba thought. Seto took a break almost an hour ago and decided that he randomly wanted to go on Facebook; something he hadn't done in so long. He found it so ridiculous how many fan pages there were revolving his existence. He perfectly understood there were fans, but there was a limit just to how crazy the should be.

_All the girls...and even guys who get so worked up over me...wow, _He thought, silently.

"Ugghhh, I'm so over Jersey Shore!" Mokuba groaned, rolling his eyes, "I mean, who the fuck gets paid to go clubbing all the time and get into the most stupid ass fights?"

"Yeah, first thing, language," Kaiba scolded, glaring at his little brother, "Second, I told you that show was stupid."

"Okay, this is coming from the king of all cussing possible." Mokuba told him, raising his brow at Kaiba.

"I am not the king...damn, I can't even tell that lie." Kaiba muttered, sighing. He did admit he was pretty much always cussing. It was just a natural part of his vocabulary.

"Riiigghhht. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that you need to get a girl." Mokuba mentioned, sitting up from his lying position on the couch.

"Mokuba, really? I'm too busy to start dating." Kaiba replied, quickly.

"Why does the topic of dating get you so on edge?" Mokuba asked, realizing that his brother was tensing up.

"It doesn't, I just know that I don't have time to be in a relationship." Kaiba responded, as his eyes twitched.

"Well, when we went shopping the other day, you seemed to be _distracted_ by a certain _someone_...," Mokuba said, leaving his sentence hanging. He knew how to get a confession out his older brother. All you had to do was say something a certain way to get him started.

"What are you...okay, are seriously trying to insinuate that I'm attracted to Gardner?" Kaiba questioned, as he started blushing at what his little brother said. Mokuba was giving him an uncomfortable stare, while he hid his face behind his laptop.

"If you aren't attracted to _Tea_, then why are you blushing? Eh?" Mokuba asked, smirking to himself, in an attempt to not laugh.

"I'm blushing because you're pissing me off." Kaiba told him, almost pouting a little bit.

He knew he was lying to Mokuba. He knew that deep down he felt a little something for Tea. Lately, she crossed his mind in the last few days. Obviously he knew that she was going through a tough time, but that's not the only thing about her that went through his mind. He didn't know what it was about her, but at the sound of her name, he thought of nothing but an angel. Her hair was a dark brown color that looked black. Her eyes were doe-like and a vibrant blue color. She had a slim, yet voluptuous figure that looked athletic and feminine. Everything about her seemed to be perfect in his eyes. In any way he thought of, he thought she was beautiful.

"Seto, why don't you just admit that you like her? Honestly, I see the way you look at her, and trust me it isn't because you feel bad about what's going on with her." Mokuba explained, gently.

He never knew the real reason why dating and women were such a touchy subject for him. He thought it may have been because he was insecure with himself. Though they were brothers, he knew Seto didn't really have a personality that people would enjoy too much. He knew how he could let his fame and fortune get to his head, but there were times that he knew Seto could be a great person. When he wasn't a jerk, he was calm and pretty down to earth person. The one thing he admired about Seto is that even though his was famous now, he never forgot his roots and where he came from.

"It's because I don't feel for her that way, Mokuba. I will admit out of the Geek Squad, she may be the only one I could ever tolerate." Kaiba responded, plainly.

"Well, while you stay in denial about this, I'm going to get food." Mokuba told him, heading for the door.

"Oh, good, can you make me a sandwich?" Kaiba asked, eagerly, "I haven't eaten all day and if I don't get something, I'm gonna punch a wall."

"Any other day I'd day no, but since you haven't eaten, I'll let this time slide." Mokuba chuckled, shutting the door. Once the door was shut, it left Kaiba to ponder on whether or not he was really in denial as his little brother said he was.

* * *

The following day, Tea spent part of it spending time with Serenity, but went back home since she was spending the rest of the day with Tristan. She hadn't really seen Tristan...or anyone else recently. Ever since they went to college, they didn't really see each other that much. She did talk with Yugi on the phone sometimes, but rarely saw him. At the moment, Tea was still trying to finish another song. It was getting really difficult to find something to inspire her to finish. There was something missing, but she didn't know what.

_Where's some inspiration when you need it? _Tea thought, hearing her _The Harold Song_ ringtone go off on her phone, "Hello?"

"_Hey, Tea, it's Mokuba! Listen, I'm holding a charity event for the Marine Conservation Society tonight and I was wondering if you could come?_" He asked, sweetly.

"Oh, yeah, sure I'd love to come. I didn't know you were into marine conservation, Mokuba." Tea said, smiling a little bit.

"_Yeah. I mean, I'm not a CEO like my brother, but I need to make up for it one way or another. Plus, I've always been into helping charities._" Mokuba pointed out, cheerfully.

"Well, I think that's great. Just text me when I should be there and stuff." Tea added.

"_Thanks, Tea. See you later._" He said, hanging up. After setting her phone back down, Tea went back to trying to think of something to write in her song, but the attempt was still the same as it had been a few minutes ago.

xxxx

A few hours later, Kaiba was sitting down in another KaibaCorp meeting. They were going over new advancements in the Kaibaland theme parks. As much as he wanted to make the theme parks more successful, he was bored out of his mind. One of the board members were trying to present to him a new ride they were voting on building, but the only thing he wanted to do was sleep. All day he had at least five cups of coffee from Starbucks and it still wasn't helping him stay awake.

_Some one please kill me, _He thought, feeling himself falling asleep.

"So, I think that since the Blue Eyes Rollercoaster is growing in popularity, this will...ummm, Mr. Kaiba? Are you okay?" The board member asked, as everyone in the meeting turned to look at him.

_Okay, pressure much? _Kaiba thought, trying to come up with an answer, "Can we...just cut this meeting short? I have other engagements to attend to. We can pick this up another day."

"Okay. As you wish, Mr. Kaiba." Another board member told him, as they packed their materials and left.

Kaiba felt there was no point in continuing when he knew he wouldn't remember what they discussed by the next day. He hated when he tried to force himself to stay awake. He recalled a time Mokuba told him that he went five days straight without sleep and started acting really goofy and by the end of that day, he finally crashed and went to sleep.

_Maybe Mokuba is right...maybe I need a break, and by break I need a good two days to sleep straight through, _He thought, grabbing his briefcase. He looked on his iPhone for the time. It was a quarter till four. He knew that Mokuba's Marine Conservation Society presentation was at seven, so that gave him a good few hours to sleep before he had to get ready for that.

While he was walking to his limo, he thought about how nice it was to know that Mokuba cared about animal life...or cared about helping anything for the matter. He knew that Mokuba hated being just known as 'Seto Kaiba's little brother'. He wanted to be known by his actual name, and not for being affiliated with KaibaCorp.

_I just hope he knows that no matter what, I'll be there to support him in all his endeavors. I will admit, I don't know that much about marine life, but if it sounds like a good cause, I don't mind giving some money I don't use to charity, _He thought, as his limo eventually pulled into the Kaiba mansion's gates.

As soon as he got out of the limo and into his home, Kaiba literally threw his briefcase aside and crashed onto the living room couch. Though he's felt exhaustion before, it's never been this bad since he started running KaibaCorp.

_Maybe I should go into retirement, heh...then I'll be known as the youngest person to go into retirement. Hehe, retirement at twenty-one? What a laugh that may be, _Kaiba thought, before he slowly drifted to sleep.

xxxx

"Yeah, I have no idea what I'm supposed to wear to this thing? I've never been to a charity event." Tea muttered, looking through the tons of dresses she had in her closet.

"Why don't you wear a fancy dress or something? I mean, that's what most rich people do, right?" Serenity questioned, playing with the Yoshi plush toy on Tea's bed.

"Only if I had a fancy dress! All of my dresses look too casual." Tea sighed, still looking through her closet.

"Well, you could use a lot of jewelry to dress up your dress...you know, to make it look like it's fancy, but it really isn't." Serenity suggested, lying on her stomach.

"You're a genius, Serenity. What would I do without your expertise on clothes?" Tea questioned, smiling a little bit.

"You'd be one lost girl right now...oh, and I'd go with those heels right there on the far left with the bows." She added, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks. But anyway, what did you say happened to Tristan?" Tea asked, curiously. Serenity spent some of her day with Tristan, but not a lot since he come down with something on their one year.

"Well, he has a sinus infection and it's getting worse. I offered to stay and help take care of him, but he insisted that I didn't." Serenity explained, sadly, "But I'm glad that I got to spend some time with him rather than none at all. I just hope he'll be okay. He asked about you today...,"

For a moment, Tea stopped looking through her closet and tensed up for a minute. She immediately felt bad.

"They really miss you. They haven't heard from you in so long." Serenity added, quietly.

"I know...it's just still hard, Serenity. They remind me of him everytime I look at them, especially Yugi. It just reminds me that he could have...," Tea said, cutting herself off before she started crying.

"I know. Just promise me that you'll at least visit them soon...before you go back to school?" Serenity asked, pleading with her.

"I'll try, Serenity." Tea replied, plainly.

"Well, I have to get going. Call me later and tell me how everything goes." Serenity muttered, before leaving Tea's bedroom.

She knew that Serenity was right. She really hadn't seen Yugi and the others in so long. Part of it was because they were all busy in school...but the majority of it was because Tea felt she wasn't ready to deal with all the reminders of Atem just yet. It would just be like reopening old wounds.

_Maybe I should just get ready for this charity thing. Maybe it'll take my mind off things, _She thought, setting out the dress she wanted to wear.

* * *

"Seto, will you come on! I don't want to look bad by being late!" Mokuba yelled, rolling his eyes impatiently.

"Sorry, I couldn't decide what suit to wear." Kaiba mentioned, coming downstairs with him coat in his arm. He finally decided to wear a charcoal colored suit with a black dress shirt and tie with grey pinstripes.

"All right, let's go." Mokuba responded, motion them towards the door. After hoping in the limo, Mokuba was taking a last minute glance through his note cards. He didn't want to screw his speech about the next project that was being worked on, which was to help the endangered blue whales. This was the first time he really gave such an important speech and he wanted it to be the best.

_I think I'll be okay, but I just wanna iron out some stuff in my head, _Mokuba thought, going through his note cards one last time.

xxxx

"This is so weird, I've never been picked up by a limo before." Tea murmurred, locking her house before she walked into the limo sent by Mokuba.

"Master Mokuba wanted us to insure that you made it to tonight's event as safe as possible, Ms. Gardner." The guard told her, opening the door for her.

"Oh, thank you." Tea replied, politely as she slid into the limo.

As soon as the limo started moving, Tea checked to see if her makeup looked okay. She wasn't really into wearing it unless it was for a special occassion, and even then, she still didn't wear too much of it. It was nothing but light blush, mascara, and eyeliner. She knew that a classy event like the one Mokuba invited her to, she couldn't carry a purse. So it left her to stuff any money she had in her bra and carry everything else in a small clutch.

_Hey, a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do, _Tea thought, looking out the window. She was still nervous. She didn't know what to do once she arrived. What would it be like? Would she be around snooty, high class people? It would be weird for her to hang around Mokuba all the time since he was the one who would be speaking to a lot of people after his presentation. She didn't want to spend barely any of the time with Kaiba, seeing as how they'd end up wanting to rip each other's heads off.

_Eh, I'll just grin and bear it...for Mokuba, _She thought, messing with her midnight blue painted nails. Hopefully she wouldn't make a fool of herself in front of the oldest Kaiba like she before. Eventually, the limo arrived at the University of Domino's main campus. Tea knew that this university was really a prodigious school and was very difficult to get into. Even at a local university, they had a blue carpet instead of a red carpet. She could see a lot of recognizable celebrities and business people lined up and news broadcasts going on.

"Well, it's now or never, Tea." She mumbled, getting out of the limo. She slowly walked towards what looked like the outside of the school's showcase hall with the auditorium. As she kept walking, she saw the paparazzi flashing multiple pictures of Mokuba and Kaiba.

"Hey, Tea, you made it!" Mokuba exclaimed, walking over to her, "Wow, you clean up nice."

"Thanks. Serenity helped me. If I had it my way, I'd just wear a t-shirt and yoga pants." She joked, laughing at little bit.

"I'm sure you would." Mokuba responded, noticing Kaiba was finished talking with the press, "Hey, Seto, Tea's here!"

_Wait, he didn't mention that Kaiba was going to be here...then again, wherever Mokuba goes, Kaiba always follows, _Tea thought, feeling nervous.

"Well, this is a surprise. Mokuba, you failed to mention that you invited Gardner tonight." Kaiba told him, sounding like his sarcastic self.

He had to admit, she looked even more beautiful when she was dressed up. Her long, dark hair was in loose curls. She had on a strapless baby pink dress with red, navy, and dark pink floral patterns on it with black lacy tights and black suede heels with bows on them. Her jewelry consisted of two gold dog chain necklaces and another that had small loops connecting to form a v-shape. It was abstract and vintage, but it dressed up what she was wearing perfectly.

_Damn she's hot...I wonder what she looks like underneath...whoa, what the fuck am I thinking? This is Gardner we're talking about...,_ He thought, biting his lip.

_**But you think she's hot...just think about what she looks like without any clothes, **_His conscience mentioned, smirking like the Cheshire cat.

_But she's one of the Geek squad...I can't affiliate myself with her. Then that means I have to deal with all the other dweebs because they're her friends, _Kaiba thought, going back and forth with his conscious.

_**Who cares? She's the only one on the Geek squad that's tolerable and she's smokin' hot. I'd jump on the opportunity before she's gone. I mean, check out her rack...**_**, **His conscience pointed out, making Kaiba start blushing.

_Okay, I can't deal with you right now, _Kaiba thought, snapping himself out of his thoughts.

"Well, it's always a pleasure to see you, _Seto_." Tea replied, politely without wanting to tear him to shreds.

_Oh, but he looks so gorgeous! Why can't he not be so intimidating and hot? _She thought, trying not to blush.

_**Of course he's gorgeous...what gave it away? **__Her conscience questioned, sarcastically._

_Okay, I'm well aware that. I just can't help that everytime I see him, I want to jump on him and make him mine, _Tea thought, fidgeting with her dress.

_**There's no problem in thinking that way. I mean, not only is face to die for...but check out his body. He probably has abs to go with that tall figure...and you can only guess what's hidden in his pants, **_Her conscience added, smirking.

_Okay, I think that's enough, _Tea thought, pushing her thoughts aside.

"Well, I have to get going. You two have fun." Mokuba said, interrupting both of their thoughts and left.

_Awww, man, why did he have to leave him here with me? _Tea thought, feeling like she was going to pee her pants.

"Come on, Gardner. Mokuba will have my ass if something goes wrong." Kaiba told her, literally dragging her inside.

"I'm fully capable of walking by myself, thank you." Tea replied, snatching her arm out of his grasp. She discreet pulled the sides of her dress up around her boobs. Just the sight of seeing part of them turned Kaiba on.

_Oh my God...why did she have to wear that dress? _He thought, hoping he wouldn't lose it.

Unfortunately for Tea, the seats were starting to fill up in the auditorium so soon that she had no choice but to sit with Kaiba. Before everything began, she reached for her HTC Evo Shift and put it on silent. She didn't want to be the oddball whose phone went off during the presentation. Just as Kaiba was about to say something, Mokuba walked on stage and everyone started clapping.

"Good evening. Tonight is another night out of many that I and many others are raising the awareness of the endangered marine animals." Mokuba started, continuing with the rest of his speech.

"Tonight is one specifically dedicated to the blue whale. Blue whales are mammals that were abundant in almost all of the oceans, up until the twentieth century. For forty years, these whales have been hunted to near extinction by commercial whalers until 1966. As of the early two thousands, there have been only five thousand to twelve thousand blue whales across the globe, but in scattered areas.

"There are many contributing factors that pose a great threat to these whales. The most disturbing affect is global warming. Since the carbon dioxide emissions continue to melt the glaciers and permafrost, the fresh water will affect the climate in which blue whales can live in because it will decrease the salt content in the oceans. This in turn, also affects the blue whales mating seasons. Wintertime is the time that blue whales mate and migrate, while summer is reserved for them to feed on krills. If the temperature of the water is affected by the glaciers, the krills will move into a new territory to fit their living conditions and the blue whales won't have anything to feed on."

As Mokuba moved through his speech, Tea was surprised to see how serious Mokuba was taking this charity. She knew some stuff about marine conservation and how depressing it was that animals were being negatively affected by certain things.

_This must be something he really cares about, _Tea thought, feeling warm inside.

"The point being, ladies and gentlemen, is that unless we as individuals act now, then these poor creatures or any other marine animal won't survive. We can all do our part and it can really make a difference with all the little things we do." Mokuba concluded, as everyone started clapping.

"That was great." Tea heard someone say behind her.

"It's nice to know that young people are getting involved and wanting to help somethings outside of just humans." Another person said, joyfully.

"You should be really proud of your brother. He's doing something really beneficial." Tea mentioned to Kaiba, walking away from him a little bit.

"Who said I wasn't proud of him? Mokuba's always been the caring, helpful type." Kaiba mentioned, catching up with her.

"Well, that's...great." Tea replied, still feeling uncomfortable being alone with Kaiba.

"Hey, guys! What did you think?" Mokuba asked, excusing himself from talking with what looked like some college professors.

"I thought it was awesome, Mokuba. It's really nice to know how much you care about saving the whales." Tea told him, smiling.

"I agree with Gardner. It just seemed to me like through some of that she kept getting caught up in how irresistable I am." Kaiba added, making Tea's mouth drop.

"What! Ugghh! You are so full of yourself! You know good and well I was not paying any attention to you!" Tea exclaimed, balling her fists.

"There's no reason to be in denial, Gardner. I understand your circumstance. You just can't help how attractive I am. It's fine, really." He smirked, making Tea blush.

"Uggghh, I can't stand you!" Tea growled, walking off somewhere.

"Even when you're flirting it makes the girls want to leave." Mokuba snickered, patting his brother on the back.

"I wasn't flirting with Gardner. I was merely pressing her buttons...its just too easy." Kaiba said, grabbing a glass of champagne.

"I seriously bet you five thousand dollars that you'll fall in love with Tea in the next month." Mokuba told him, holding out his hand.

"You're on, little man." Kaiba responded, shaking his brothers hand, "I'm one hundred and ten percent sure that you're wrong and I'm going to win this bet."

"We'll see." Mokuba smirked, before walking off. After about five minutes, Kaiba spotted Tea sitting down and eating a whole tray of mini sandwiches.

_Good thing no one's watching, _He thought, going over to her, "Enjoying the food I see?"

"What do you want? I thought you had business to attend to or something." Tea pointed out, stuffing another mini sandwich in her mouth.

"No, I don't have anything to do. I just don't want to be bothered with anyone at the moment." He responded, plainly.

"Then why are you over here with me? I'm apart of the Geek squad remember? You hate me." Tea mentioned, shrugging.

"Well for one, there's no one else here I know. Two, just because you're affiliated with those other geeks doesn't mean that I hate you." Kaiba admitted, not sounding sarcastic or mean.

"Good to know." Tea responded, quickly.

"What happened between you and the other geek, Atem?" Kaiba blurted out, wishing that he hadn't asked that.

Tea was shocked for a moment. She wanted to know why the heck was Kaiba asking her about Atem? The last time she checked, Kaiba disliked Atem for beating him at Duel Monsters time and time again.

_Then again, why is it any of his business? _She thought, clearing her throat, "Can we not talk about that?"

"Look, Gardner, for the last year or two, you've been walking around like a lifeless blob...and Mokuba's getting concerned." Kaiba responded, all of a suddne having diarrhea of the mouth. He knew that he wanted to hear for himself what happened. All he knew was that Atem had to have done something pretty bad for Tea to behave the way she was for two years straight.

"In all reality, it's none of your business what happened, so please...just leave it be." Tea murmurred, walking away from him, just before he grabbed her arm.

"Gardner, wait." He said, quietly, "I'm..sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's fine. Plus, everyone else has been bugging me about how over emotional I'm being over Atem. It's fine, really. You're not the first person who doesn't understand my pain." Tea explained, a little too casual for Kaiba's taste.

"Gardner...," Kaiba started, before she cut him off.

"I need to get home anyway. Tell Mokuba that I'll talk to him later, kay?" Tea asked, before heading towards the exit.

_What's happened to her? _He thought, bringing his hand down to his side.

xxxx

Tea was busy walking home after her conversation with Kaiba. Though she was somewhat mad that he asked her about her personal business, he just sounded concerned like everyone else. Not only was she still suffering since Atem left, but she was being constantly pressured by Serenity to see Yugi and the others. No one seemed to understand that for her, it was too early. Going around the guys like nothing happened would be painful because she wouldn't really be happy like they wanted her to be.

_Why can't anyone just understand that I'm suffering? Why do they have to be so judgemental?_ She thought, not noticing some random guy approaching her.

"Hey, sweetie. You lost or somethin'?" He asked, uncontrollably grinning.

"No, I'm fine thank you." Tea replied, before the guy grabbed her arm, "Let me go!"

"Come on, I just wanna have a little fun." He smirked, pulling the bottom of her dress up to her stomach.

"I mean it! Let me go!" Tea screamed, trying to punch and kick the guy.

"These undies need to go." He laughed, wripping her underwear off.

"No! Stop!" She cried, as he pinned her against a tree.

"Come on, it won't be so bad." He responded, pulling the top of her dress and bra down.

_For the love of God, someone please help me, _She thought, as tears streamed down her face. Before she could blink she noticed that the guy fell down. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that Kaiba and the random guy were fighting.

"Mind your own business, pretty boy!" The guy growled, punching Kaiba in the nose. Tea shrieked in horror when she heard it crack and watched him fall on the ground, "Heh, now where were we?"

The guy didn't even get a mere foot near Tea before Kaiba got up and speared him into a bush and started pounding on him. She could hear moaning and groaning come from guy. While she was pulling her bra and dress back up, she tried her best to pull herself together, but it wasn't any use.

"Come here." Kaiba muttered, as she accepted his warm embrace, while she was uncontrollably sobbing into his chest.

* * *

**Soooo, more drama? I think so! I hope I didn't take too long with this chapter, but just to let you know, things will get more dramatic, and start to move into more romance. Next time: After her run in with a rapist, Tea and Kaiba share an unforgettable moment when he takes her back to the Kaiba mansion. What exactly happened between them? Will this bring Tea closer to Kaiba? R&R plz!**

**Cherriez :)**

***Mini Trivia: What artist is Tea being based on in this story?**

**a) Ke$ha**

**b) Katy Perry**

**c) Ashley Tisdale**

**d) Duffy**


	3. Heart to Heart

**So, I guess I'm on a writing role as far as this story goes. I'm sorry to those who know I've been neglecting my other stories (for those who have read the other ones). I'm going to attempt to start updating other stories, as well as this one. So if it takes a while to update the chapter after this one, then I'm very sorry in advance.**

***I don't own anything but the plot. The song **_Not Like the Movies _**belongs to Katy Perry. She's an amazing artist and she should be recognized for her hard work. Yu-Gi-Oh belongs rightful to Mr. Takahashi.**

"_A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardner of his soul, the director of his life_."

~James Allen

Heart to Heart

* * *

"Tea...Tea..Tea, we're here." She heard Mokuba tell her as her eyes readjusted to the light coming from outside.

After a ten minute drive, Tea realized that after waking up from the small nap she took, they arrived at the Kaiba mansion. Just like she expected, the property was a perfect fit. She noticed that it was the new mansion they moved into just after Atem left. It was in close proximity to the old one. Tea had to admit from what she could see, the house was beautiful when it was luminous at night. There was a circular drive, but the garage was on the side of the mansion. The garden on both sides of the doors were full of nice flowers and plants. The doors were made of glass and dark, polished wood. The windows were designed beautifully to show off the lights inside.

_Wow, they've got taste, _She thought, still hugging the jacket to Kaiba's suit close to her. She noticed that his scent was a mix of cologne, pine, and peppermint.

"Come on." Kaiba murmurred, helping her out the limo and into the mansion with one hand.

"Are you sure your nose is okay? I feel really bad." Tea murmurred, in a low whisper.

"Trust me, Gardner. I've suffered from more than just a broken nose. Plus, why are you apologizing? Nobody knew that some psycho ass rapist was going to pop out of nowhere." Kaiba responded, sounding irritated.

He never thought that he'd be helping her of all people right now. It was unfortunate what happened to her, but he felt somewhat bad. He felt like he should have made sure she had a way home and wasn't walking for one thing. Also, though it was stupid, he felt ashamed that he had nearly seen her naked, which was completely on accident. He remembered that Mokuba and himself were riding home shortly and he heard someone screaming for help, all to figure out it was Tea.

_Would it be terrible and perverted of me to actually enjoy seeing her chest after what just happened? Yeah, most likely..., _Kaiba thought, biting his lip. For some reason, he never really had women in his home. If he did anything with women, he'd at least have the decency to not do it in his home with his brother around.

After Mokuba locked the door behind them, Tea noticed that the foyer was huge. Then again, she figured that's how the whole mansion would be.

"Good evening, Master Mokuba. Was your evening pleasant?" Their butler, James asked, cheerfully.

"Yeah, to some extent." Mokuba explained, politely, "Do you mind preparing a guest room for my friend? She's not feeling well."

"Yes, sir. Anything for Master Seto's lady." James responded, making Tea blush like a ripe red tomato.

"Ummm...no, we're...," Tea stammered, with more embarassment than before.

"She's not my girlfriend, James. She's just a family friend." Kaiba corrected him, trying not to let his temper get the better of him.

"My apologies, sir. I'll get the lady's room prepared right away." James apologized, heading up the marble staircase.

"You guys don't have to do this...you can just take me home." Tea muttered, feeling bad since she didn't want to cause them trouble.

"Look, Gardner, if I really thought you were going to be a nuisance, then I wouldn't have let you in my home from the beginning. I'm not going to let you be alone after some psycho just tried to molest you. So you're staying here for the night. Clear?" Kaiba asked, raising his brow.

"Ye-yeah." Tea mumbled, quietly.

"I'll be in the kitchen." Mokuba told them, walking the opposite way of the stairs.

"Come on." Kaiba grumbled, as she reluctantly followed him upstairs. After gettting to the top of the stairs, they walked through a small hallway and turned right. All along the walls were paintings of scenery. All of the works were oil paintings and some others were pastel drawings. There were plants at the very end of the hallway. There were two white double doors at the end of the hallway. Tea assumed that it was his room.

"Trust me, I know what you're thinking...no, that's not my room, but good guess." He said, plainly as they approached a room on the right side of the hallway, "This is your room, for the night."

Tea looked around the guest room. The entire room was white. The furniture was white and gold. The bed was full with huge white fluffy pillows and white sheets and comforter. On the dresser, there was a mid-sized flat screen TV.

"You can get situated in here. I'll find something for you to sleep in." Kaiba mentioned, shutting the door behind him. After he was gone, she remembered that she was still in her dress from earlier that night. When she looked in the vanity mirror next to the bed, she realized that she looked the same, except her dress was a little wrinkly and messed up from the guy tugging at it. She felt embarrassed that her boobs were slightly more exposed than they should have been.

_Ugghhh, they must think I look like a hobo, _Tea thought, sighing. Noticing that she had a couple hair ties on her wrists, she took her long locks and put it up in a messy bun on the top of her head. While she was getting wrapped up in her thoughts, she heard someone knock, "Come in."

"Here, Tea, I made you a sandwich." Mokuba said, handing her a small plate with a turkey sandwich and handed her a can of Dr. Pepper, "Just give me the can when you're done. I don't want Seto to know that I took some of his Dr. Pepper. Just try to get some rest, kay?"

"I'll try...and thanks again, Mokuba. I don't know what would have happened if you and your brother hadn't come." Tea replied, as Mokuba smiled.

"No problem, Tea. That's what friends do." He told her, shutting the door quietly behind him.

xxxx

About fifteen minutes after returning home, Kaiba went back to working on his laptop. But again, he couldn't seem to focus on what he was attempting to work on. A certain brunette was constantly on his mind...now more than she had a few hours ago. He was still somewhat in shock because he was in shock that he had almost witnessed someone getting raped from looking out the window of his limo. Though he tried to pay it no mind, he just couldn't get the shriek and screams he heard out of his head. He always wondered growing up what led men to want to do that to women? Outside of recent events, his brain wouldn't get rid of any of the thoughts he had about her.

_Why the hell can't I stop thinking about her for five minutes? My brain will not comprehend that I don't feel that way about Gardner, _Kaiba thought, dropping his head on his desk.

_**Ummmm, maybe your brain has the common sense to tell you that you like her stupid...or else she wouldn't be on your mind all the time. You're just being your regular Seto Kaiba self because that's how you convince the world to see you, **_His conscience explained, sighing with annoyance.

_No, it's just that I don't like Gardner that way. I mean, she is somewhat attractive, smart, and is mostly nice to everyone but that doesn't mean that she has any influence on me, _Kaiba thought, passively.

_**Yeah, I already see Mokuba winning this little bet. You like Tea and you're just in denial for whatever reason you have, **_His conscience muttered, as Kaiba snapped out of his thoughts. Kaiba thought some more about his situation. Did he really feel something for Tea? Eh, somewhat. What words came to mind when he thought of her? Dirty words no one wants to hear.

_But that's what all men do...they get turned on by hot girls...but Gardner isn't hot...I mean, she's not hideous, but she's...ehhh..., _Kaiba thought, sighing with frustration.

xxxx

All night, Tea had been tossing and turning in her sleep ferociously and tightly gripping the comforter and sheets. She was having a terrible nightmare. Like it had been for the last two years, it was always the same dream...but this time it was altered again.

_Everything was black. It was like walking with a blindfold on. She couldn't see anything ahead of her but more black and darkness..nothing was visible until a flash of his image appeared._

_"Atem...," Tea muttered, watching his figure slowly disappear, "Wait, come back! Don't...don't go! Please! Don't go!"_

_Before she could let out another plea, she turned around to see Kaiba standing before her as well. As she was about to speak, she felt zing of pain rush right through her body. She fell to the ground screaming in pure agony as the burning and stabbing pain went through her body._

"Tea..Tea...TEA! WAKE THE HELL UP DAMNIT!" She heard Kaiba shouting, shaking her body by her arms.

From natural reflexes, Tea grabbed his right arm out of fear. She realized what was going on when she was fully awake and alert. It was another nightmare. Another painful, agonizing nightmare.

"Calm down, you're okay. It was just a dream." Kaiba told her, quietly calming her hyperventilating down. He had enough experience calming Mokuba down when he had nightmares when they were kids, even though he didn't necessarily hear Mokuba shriek in terror like Tea.

As she sat up from the bed, Kaiba cut the lamp on that was on the bedside stand next to her bed. Tea remembered that she was sleeping in one of Kaiba's dress shirts, but it was big enough to be a dress on her. She noticed that he sat down on the edge of the bed while she was still in a lying position.

"You're going to have to give me some answers, Gardner. First it's the depression, now it's having panic attacks in your sleep. Something's up and I want to know...hell I deserve to know after I've been trying to wake you up for twenty minutes." Kaiba said, ending his rambling.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to go into talking about him after I just had a nightmare...please." Tea mumbled, but Kaiba could barely make out her voice.

"Look, I know we're not the best of friends, but it's like I said before, I wouldn't be here trying to help if I didn't want to." Kaiba mentioned, trying to be patient.

"...He...he..just...broke my heart!" Tea cried, before tears started coming down her rosy cheeks, "I admit how I felt about him...and he just took it and threw it away like a piece of trash!"

"Wait...back up...what are you talking about?" Kaiba asked, getting lost in what she was saying.

"Well...it all started after the whole virtual world incident with Noah...when you resumed the Battle City finals...," Tea murmurred, sadly reminiscing what happened.

_"I'm so glad that we got out of that virtual world, Yugi...I mean, Yami. Sorry, I get mixed up sometimes...," Tea mumbled, blushing. _

_"It's okay to call me Yami, Tea," He replied, smiling at her bashfulness, "I think we need to talk about something, regarding us."_

_"Yeah, sure what is it?" Tea asked, curiously. She noticed the glow of the moon come from behind the clouds._

_"Well, over the last year or so...I've gotten to know you a little better than before. I think you're a really caring, kindhearted, and sweet person...and I just think you should know that...I'm in love with you." Yami admitted, as the last part of his explanation left Tea in shock._

_"Wha..wow, Yami. I had no idea...I...I'm in love with you too." She admitted, smiling shyly._

_"You have no idea how much that makes me happy." Yami smiled, wrapping her in a warm embrace._

_"So...what do we do from here?" Tea asked, plainly._

_"I think it would be best for us to wait until after Battle City. I don't want Marik's dark side trying to take advantage of our relationship." Yami explained, rubbing her hand._

_"Okay." She mumbled, quietly._

_"Everything will be fine, Tea. I promise." He told her, giving her a hug before going to bed._

_"Good night." She responded, smiling._

"So...you and that geek were going to start going out after Battle City, huh?" Kaiba asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"That was the plan, at least until the whole Dartz thing surfaced. Then before we knew it, we're all flying out to Egypt. The next thing I know, he's gone," Tea told him, not realizing that she was crying, "That's what all my nightmares are about. Him leaving and me not being able to see anything."

_Trust me, I know the feeling of losing someone you love, _Kaiba thought, thinking of his parents' death. The only person he had left that was dear to him was Mokuba. He knew that she had the others, but from what Mokuba told him, she distanced herself a great deal from Yugi and the others.

"If it makes you feel any better, I felt kind of the same way when my parents died and our family sent Mokuba and I to an orphanage. Even though I had Mokuba, the family vibe I was raised in was gone. So in a way, I've felt your pain. I've gotten over it a little bit, but it still affects me a little." Kaiba explained, in a tone Tea never heard from Kaiba. The only tone she ever heard from Kaiba was one of sarcasm and witty remarks. This tone was more gentle than she had ever heard.

"I'm sorry, about your parents I mean. That must be sad to not have your mother or father around. Mine are still living and they're never around." Tea mentioned, looking down at the carpet.

"What happened with yours?" He asked, still not knowing how or why he was being so nice to her. She had awaken _the_ Seto Kaiba out of his sleep...and for some odd reason, he didn't care. He knew he didn't really get that much sleep through the week anyway.

"My parents divorced a long time ago. My dad moved to America and remarried, and my mom is always gone on business for months at a time, so I'm practically by myself most of the time." Tea told him, feeling a little bitter. What really seemed weird to her is how easy it was to open up to Kaiba. Since they've known each other, they've never seen eye to eye...and now she was telling him everything.

_Why is it so easy to tell him about all this? _Tea thought, still wondering.

"Well, it's still late...so you should go back to sleep." Kaiba mentioned, walking towards the door.

"Uhh, Kaiba..," Tea started, when he turned his head over his shoulder, "Thanks."

"Hn. Good night, Gardner." Kaiba responded, shutting the door behind him.

Tea lied there in bed, staring at the ceiling. She knew that if she went back to sleep, she'd have the same nightmare again. She decided that since both the Kaiba brothers were asleep, she would sneak out and take a tour of the mansion. She quietly walked about the hallways, looking in every room she came across. In one room lied Kaiba's office, that had a couch with a coffee table, his desk, the mounted flat screen on the wall, and the wall of glass windows behind his desk and chair. In another room was the study. Tea was impressed by the shelves and bookcases full of books. His collection ranged from language books to the works of Shakespeare.

_Wow, I can't believe he has the complete works of Shakespeare. I remember I got this for my fourteenth birthday, _Tea thought, putting the book back on the shelf.

After shutting the door to the study, the next room that Tea found was the conservatory. She had no idea that any of the Kaiba brothers were interested in music. There was a grand piano in the center of the room and surrounding it were music stands, a few chairs on the side near the window, and in another corner were all the instruments they owned in their respective cases.

_This would have to be my favorite room if I lived here, _Tea thought, sitting down at the piano. She never played on a grand piano before and wondered how the song she just wrote would sound. Before she knew it, she started playing and began singing her song once she had the tune...

_He put it on me, I put it on,  
Like there was nothing wrong.  
It didn't fit,  
It wasn't right.  
Wasn't just the size.  
They say you know,  
When you know.  
I don't know._

_I didn't feel  
The fairytale feeling, no.  
Am I a stupid girl  
For even dreaming that I could._

Little did Tea know that a certain CEO was standing right outside the door listening to her sing. He had to admit that she had a beautiful voice. He heard Mokuba brag a little about Tea going to the Domino National University of Performing Arts and how it was the most prodigious performing arts school. He listened to how graceful she sounded when she was playing the piano. He remembered taking lessons when he was a child, but he always loved when he could appreciate other people playing, rather than himself.

_If it's not like the movies,  
That's how it should be, yeah.  
When he's the one,  
I'll come undone,  
And my world will stop spinning  
And that's just the beginning, yeah._

Playing the piano gave Tea a lot of peace when she was down. Just the soft, laidback, and mellow tone of it made drift into another world. It made her forget about the trials and tribulations that she was dealing with. All the stress, anger, sadness didn't matter anymore. It was all about the music and how it felt when she was singing along with it.

Snow white said when I was young,  
"One day my prince will come."  
So I wait for that date.  
They say it's hard to meet your match,  
Find my better half.  
So we make perfect shapes.  
If stars don't align,  
If it doesn't stop time,  
If you can't see the sign,  
Wait for it.  
One hundred percent,  
With every penny spent.  
He'll be the one that,  
Finishes your sentences.

While she was playing, Tea realized kind of how her song connected with her deeper than she already had. Yes, it was essentially about the love in her life was not like the love they potray in films. Hence the title of her song. What made it connect deeper to her was how some of the lyrics reminded her of her childhood. When she was little, one of her favorite fairytales was Snow White and she used to watch the film so many times. She always told her mom when she was little that when she was older, she'd find her prince like Snow White did. As she grew up over the years, she realized that life wasn't sugar coated and sweet like in fairytales and that finding the right guy takes time.

If it's not like the movies,  
That's how it should be.  
When he's the one,  
He'll come undone,  
And my world will stop spinning,  
And that's just the beginning.

'Cause I know you're out there,  
And your, your love came for me.  
It's a crazy idea that you were made,  
Perfectly for me you'll see.

_At this point, who knows when I'll find him...I was hoping that it would be Atem, but things don't work out how you plan them, _Tea thought, sighing before she continued.

Just like the movies.  
That's how it will be.  
Cinematic and dramatic with the perfect ending.  
It's not like the movies,  
But that's how it should be.  
When he's the one,  
You'll come undone,  
And your world will stop spinning,  
And it's just the beginning.

After finishing, Tea just at the piano for a minute, thinking. She came to a conclusion that maybe everyone is right. Maybe there wasn't a point in her wallowing in torment and misery.

_Maybe I should forget about Atem...but it's so hard to let go. I can at least try, _Tea thought, opening the door to leave. When she turned her gaze forward, she almost screamed when she saw Kaiba standing outside the door.

"Oh my goodness, you almost gave me a heart attack! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Tea exclaimed, as a blush crept up to her cheeks.

_She's cute when she get's all puffy and blushes when she get's pissed...wait, stop that, Seto! Pull yourself together! _He thought, rolling his eyes, "Incase you may have forgotten, I live here. You're my guest."

"Well, I-I couldn't sleep, so I just looked around." Tea stammered, biting her lip.

"Normally I would be ticked if some stranger was snooping around my home, but I seem to like letting you off the hook. Just go back to bed," Kaiba said, heading back to his room, "By the way, you have a really nice voice."

Not saying another word, he headed in the opposite direction, leaving Tea with a blush on her face.

* * *

The following morning, Tea woke up around eleven. She noticed that her long hair was in her face. When she looked on her pillow, she saw that her hair tie must have snapped. Once she got up from her bed, she realized that her tights weren't where she left them.

_Awww, man...where are they? I can't walk around in Kaiba's mansion with one of his dress shirts and my Superman panties on. His dress shirt only covers a little bit, _Tea thought, freaking out a little. Seeing as how she didn't want to be couped up in the guest room forever, she reluctantly walked around and went to look for Mokuba or someone. For some reason, Tea felt oddly comfortable walking around Kaiba's mansion. She found the staircase. She went down the other set of stairs that led to the kitchen.

"Finally. I found it." Tea muttered, looking around the kitchen.

If she had to pick a favorite room, one of them would be the kitchen. The stove was on the island counter, along with the dishwasher, and extra cabinets for the cleaning supplies. On the left side of the island was the sink and other cabinets above it and on both sides of it. On the right side of the sink was a toaster and a pretty boss coffee maker. The drawers were full of silverware and other utensils. To the left of the sink was the oven and the holy grail, the refridgerator. It was one of those refridgerators that had the sweet easy glide drawers.

"Ooohh, he has Haagen-Dazs ice cream." Tea gasped, feeling like a kid in the candy store. Tea got so distracted by food in general that she didn't hear the young CEO walk down to the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked, curiously, making Tea shut the refridgerator door quickly.

"Oh my God! Why the hell do you like scaring the shit out of me?" Tea questioned, sighing.

Disregarding her comment, Kaiba realized that she wasn't wearing any pants and that she was just wearing his dress shirt and Superman panties. He never thought that he would ever wake in the morning to a woman in her panties and his dress shirt. He knew when he was fourteen years old in all the classic movies, a woman wore a guys dress shirt after the night they did it.

Just the sight of Tea being in her panties and his dress shirt turned him on to where he couldn't control his urges. He was imagining himself shoving her against the refridgerator and taking her right then and there. He wanted to make her his. He wanted her to scream his name out when he released himself. He could feel himself begin to swell up. His pants were growing tighter until he could feel it suffocating him.

_God, I want to pound her! _He thought, using every ounce of self control he had to hold himself back, "Again, Gardner, I live here. You're the one walking in around in your panties."

"Yeah, because someone took my tights and my dress." Tea told him, glaring at him.

"Oh, sorry, Tea. I washed your clothes this morning. They're in the dryer right now." Mokuba mentioned, coming in from the other room. She noticed he was being polite and wasn't looking down at her underwear.

"Oh, ummm...thanks, Mokuba." Tea mumbled, feeling herself blush.

"I'll be in my room." He replied, leaving the two adults alone, again.

"Did you want something?" Kaiba asked, trying to not have any awkwardness.

"I just wanted some juice." Tea muttered, bashfully.

"Well...help yourself." Kaiba grumbled, taking his coffee and leaving.

As Tea poured herself a cup of orange juice, she remembered the look on Kaiba's face when he saw her in her panties. He looked like a man possessed, as if he were holding himself back from something. She thought for a minute that he looked like he was going to have a panic attack and start freaking out.

Her mind wandered back to the night before. After the whole Atem nightmare, it still really surprised her how Kaiba showed her a different side of himself. He was actually being really nice and she thought it was sweet.

_Maybe I was wrong about Kaiba. He doesn't seem like he's as rude and arrogant as he portrays to people, _She thought, sipping her juice. Outside of thinking he was kind, she felt something lingering in her subconscience. In the back of her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about him and they way things have been going the last few times she's encountered him.

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She came to two conclusions. One, she wanted Seto Kaiba and two, she was starting to fall in love with him.

xxxx

About a half hour after Tea left the mansion, Kaiba was working on finishing all the contracts and business deals for the additions and advancements on the Kaibaland theme park in Domino. It took him longer than he anticipated because he had his moments where he couldn't focus on anything. His mind was consumed with thoughts of a certain brunette, and it wasn't himself. He couldn't stop thinking about Tea. Ever since he started encountering Tea more frequently, his thoughts about her were evolving into more than just reminding himself that she was part of the Geek squad. He noticed that she brought upon a certain warm, animated vibe to the people around her, which seemed to be the reason she was so likeable and had a lot of friends. Everytime she smiled, it just reminded him more of her beauty. He admitted that he's never been this remotely attracted to a woman in his life.

_I guess she's starting to grow on me, _Seto thought, noticing that he had a shocking revelation. Two things were certain. One, he was attracted to Tea beyond belief. Lastly, he was genuinely and conclusively in love with Tea Gardner. He was bound to lose the bet he made with his brother. If it wasn't now, it would be some time soon.

* * *

**Well, that wraps up this chapter. I really enjoyed writing the little heart to heart between Tea and Kaiba. And I really hope you guys liked getting a taste of Tea's singing. For the last few months, I've been considering basing a character on my favorite artist, Katy Perry. I just find her songs on her album Teenage Dream to be influential :) **

**Next time: After finally finishing another song, Tea finally gets the courage to see her friends again. How will things go? As another idea to keep his public image up, Seto has a spring break party at his mansion and Mokuba puts Tea at the top of the guest list. Will this party set Seto into an uncontrollable state of mind? Can he control himself and hold himself off from Tea anymore? R&R plz! Thanks again guys!**

**Cherriez**_  
_


	4. Bloom

So, I'm really getting tired of senior year...I just wish prom would come sooner, yet I'm still looking for my dress. But anyway, thanks again so much for reviewing guys! I appreciate your support! For those who already review, try to get the word out about this story. I want to share with everyone my story :)

_It is love rather than sexual lust or unbridled sexuality if, in addition to the need or want involved, there is also some impulse to give pleasure to the persons thus loved and not merely to use them for our own selfish pleasure._

~Mortimer Adler

Bloom

* * *

"Finally! I finished another song!" Tea chirped, clapping her hands.

For the last three days, the brunette had been working really hard on finishing her latest song. Though she had to admit songwriting was something that proved to be quite difficult, the hard work did pay off in the end her young mind. Spring break just started and she was somewhat enjoying it. There were, however, many lingering things on her mind. She recently came to the conclusion that she had to start talking to her friends again. She missed them quite badly and it really make her feel lonely when she wasn't around them.

_We used to have so much fun together, and I can't let this whole Atem thing get in between us. We were friends before, and that's how it's going to be, _Tea thought, putting her guitar back in its case. While the thought was still on her mind, she dialed Yugi's number.

"_Hello?_" He asked, cheerfully.

"Hey, Yugi, it's Tea...I know we haven't talked in a while, but I was wondering if we could all get together at your place and talk? I have somethings I want to get off my chest to you guys." Tea explained, biting her lip.

"_Yeah, of course, Tea. We're friends. Let me call Joey and the others and I'll get back to you soon._" Yugi told her, sweetly.

"Thank you so much. I'll talk to you later." Tea told him, before they hung up. She felt overjoyed that Yugi was going to give her a chance to talk to them. She wanted them to know how she feels and that she wants to go back to the way things used to be. She knew now how crummy it felt to not be around people that you care about...similar to someone who was on her mind.

xxxx

"So let me get this straight...you...want me...to throw a spring break party?" The young CEO questioned, giving his brother the most shocking yet irritating look.

"Yes, that's what I said...for the umpteenth time. Think about it, it'll help your image and other people will think that your not a egotistical, heartless, pompous...," Mokuba listed, going through what the names that people think of his older sibling.

"Okay, I get your point, Mokuba! Thanks!" Kaiba yelled, rolling his eyes.

"Point being, people will actually think you're a normal young adolescent." Mokuba added, plopping on the couch in his office.

In his mind, Kaiba found the entire thought or idea of having a party to be stupid. Only because he was never a party person. Even when he went to fancy parties, he even disliked attending those. The people tended to be older than him, and the men ended up having really young girls as arm candy. Just the mere thought of having other young people in his home made him shudder. He imagined things being damaged, people doing it in his room or any other room in his house, people snooping, anything that roamed around being the worst case scenario.

_Maybe Mokuba's right, as much as I'd hate to say it. I mean, maybe I do seem a little...stuck up, but it's just having self pride in myself, _Seto thought, letting out a sigh, "Fine...I guess...I'll let you...do this party thing."

"Yes! Don't worry, bro, I've got your back." Mokuba reassured him, leaving his office.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Kaiba murmurred, dropping his head on the stack of papers on his desk.

xxxx

While Tea was in her car on her way to Yugi's, she thought more about Kaiba. She still couldn't believe that after one night and part of the day with Kaiba, that she'd end up somewhat falling for him. She wasn't exactly sure if his actions and words to her were genuine or if it was just because he felt obligated to help her, as if she were some begger on the street.

_I would hope that what he did was genuine, or that just proves that he'll never change, _Tea thought, shutting the ignition off once she pulled up in front of the game shop. After grabbing her purse and shutting her car door, Tea went up to the door and entered the game shop.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Tea asked, before Yugi came from the other room.

"Tea! You came!" He chirped, giving her a hug. It was so awkward to hug Yugi, now that she noticed he was taller than her. He was tall and slim just like Joey and Tristan were, but he still had his gentle face even though his figure was more masculine.

"Wow, now I have to look up at you instead." Tea smiled, happily.

"You look really great, Tea. I can't believe you grew your hair." He complimented, as they moved into the living room.

"Thank you. Man, it's been so long since we've last seen each other." Tea said, sighing, "I really am sorry, Yugi."

"It's okay, Tea, I understood what you were going through. I had a hard time myself and I know that looking at me was a reminder of him." Yugi replied, rubbing her shoulder before hearing the doorbell, "Oh, its probably Joey and Tristan."

"Hey, Yug, what's up?" Joey asked, knuckle touching him but stopped once he saw Tea, "Oh, wow, Tea! Long time no see."

"Ditto. Where have you been? We've missed you." Tristan added, in agreement.

"Hey, Joey, Tristan. It's great to see you gu...oooohhhh!" Tea squealed, as Joey picked her up and spun her around.

"Damn! I'm glad you're back, Tea!" Joey smiled, setting her back down on the ground.

"Thanks guys. I hope you guys weren't mad at me." Tea mentioned, looking at the three of them.

"No, we weren't mad at you...we were just worried when you stopped talkin' to us for a bit, that's all. Heh, I thought you were mad at us actually." Tristan explained, rubbing the back of his head.

"Of course not. I really am sorry I put you guys through that. I just really needed some time to think...I never meant for you to worry." Tea responded, feeling a little sad. She hadn't meant to worry anyone, its just that Atem leaving had a profound affect on her.

"It's okay really, Tea, we get it. Now come on, let's order a pizza and catch up." Joey offered, smiling.

"I'm down." Tristan agreed, happily.

"I'm in, too." Yugi added, looking at Tea.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled, cheerfully. Things in her life were starting to finally come back into place, just like before.

* * *

The last week and a half was all it took for Mokuba to organize the guest list for his brother's supposed Spring Break party. Though he put a lot of teen and young celebrities on the list, Mokuba added a little twist of his own. He hadn't forgotten about the bet he made with Seto that he would fall for Tea. He knew that his brother was starting to crack, ever since they let Tea stay at the mansion after her almost molestation. In a major, but risky effort to win the bet, Mokuba added Tea, Yugi, and the others to the guest list.

_Seto gets along with Tea and Yugi. As for Tristan and Joey...ehhh, there'll be too many other guest for Seto to be paying any attention to them, _Mokuba thought, smiling evily to himself, _I should probably stop doing that...I wouldn't want to be too much like Seto._

Picking up his phone, he dialed his brother's assistant, "Hey, Heather, I need you to send out these invitations for Seto's party...Yeah, thanks so much."

It would only be a matter of time before Mokuba got his wish...which was to win the bet, but also to see his brother happy for once in his life.

xxxx

"Wait, so you're going into music instead of dancing?" Yugi asked, sipping some of his soda.

"Well, I haven't completely given up dancing...I'm doing both. I'm in the drama club at school, so I kind of do singing and dancing. I just finished writing my second song for my recital." Tea told him, eating her last piece of pizza.

"Really? That's so awesome, Tea! Maybe one day when you're famous, we'll be able to hear you sing." Joey said, excitedly.

"Yeah, and then we can get backstage passes to all your concerts and stuff!" Tristan added, with just as much excitement.

"Well, I'm not sure about that yet, guys. I have to see how things go after the recital first." Tea giggled, trying not to choke on her food.

"I'm sure you'll do great. When is your recital?" Yugi asked, curiously.

"It's around the wintertime, so I'm pretty sure it's in December." Tea responded, looking at the time on her phone, "Oh, sorry guys, I have to go. I need to get fitted for my dance uniform."

"It's okay, Tea. It was great to see you again. Just promise you'll visit more." Yugi told her, giving her a warm hug.

"For sure. It was really good to see you guys after so long. I'll talk to you guys later." Tea said, bidding the guys goodbye for the day.

After getting back in her car, Tea drove off in the direction of her school, but soon forgot that she needed to get dance bag for rehearsal later. While she was driving home, she smiled because she had such a wonderful time with her friends, just like old times. It was fun to just joke around and talk like they used to. That was the vibe that she truly missed when she didn't see them for a long period of time.

_That's how things should be. We used to have so much fun together, even if it was hanging out at Yugi's all day or taking a walk around town until it was dark. We need to do things like that more, _She thought, parking her car in front of her house. While she went to the door, Tea got the mail out of the mailbox. While looking through it, there was mostly junk mail, bills that her mother probably already paid, and some mail for her. There was a piece of mail that seemed very odd to her. It was a nice creme colored envelope that had her address and the senders address in nice cursive letters. When she opened she silently read the card inside.

_Dear Guest,_

_You are cordially invited to a Spring Break gathering on behalf of Seto Kaiba. On the card is the address and directions to the Kaiba estate. Please RSVP by the given date. We look forward to your arrival._

"Really? Kaiba having a party? As much as his house costs inside and out, I wouldn't imagine him having any type of party with a bunch of young people." Tea muttered to herself, looking at the date of the party, "It's this Saturday night. Hmmm, maybe Kaiba's not such a prune as I thought he was."

This gave Tea something to debate about in her mind. Seeing as how she had some feelings for the young CEO, it would give her an opportunity to see him again. Then again, there would probably be other girls wanting to flirt with him too, making her a little less inclined to go.

_There would be so many other girls there. They would probably...heh, not probably, they will be prettier than me. Plus, they'll be throwing themselves at him. I'm pretty much the only girl in this city who doesn't wait for him on hand and foot, _Tea thought, throwing her dance bag in her backseat. She started her car and went off to school, _This is quite a dilemma I have. Should I go?_

_**Of course you should go stupid. What else do you have to do on a Saturday night? And don't tell me you can write more songs...you've been doing that for so many weekends, **_Her conscience told her, sighing in annoyance.

_What? I like writing songs...it's relaxing, _Tea thought, giving her conscience an irritated glare.

_**Riiiiggghhht. Anyway, I say you should go. You need to stop being such a homebody and get out and start being young. You're about to be twenty years old, and you need to start acting like it. Get laid a few times, hook up with some guys...you need to do something! **_Her conscience responded, plainly.

_Okay, I'm not just going to randomly get laid with some random guy. He could have an STD for all I know. I'm not like these other girls who just throw themselves out there, _Tea thought, focusing on driving.

_**Just go to the damn party. I mean, you do like Seto after all...and don't lie to me. I'm part of your head, I know what roams around. Don't get me started on how you want him to..., **_Her conscience started, before Tea cut her off.

_Don't bring that up! That's a secret! _Tea argued, growling to herself.

_**Honey, it's not a secret that you want Seto Kaiba to do the do with you, so to speak. You've been fantasizing about him for God knows how long. Going to this party may give you the opportunity to get to know him, and I'll even go as far to say that maybe you'll end up flirting, which'll lead to..., **_Her conscience added, making Tea mad.

_Okay, is getting laid all you like to talk about? I swear, you obsess over sex like no other, _Tea thought, rolling her eyes.

_**Hey, I'm your conscience. I'm just the part of you that hides all of your real thoughts, **_Her conscience responded, finally disappearing.

_Now I'm convinced that my brain is corrupted, _Tea thought, pulling into the parking lot of her school.

* * *

There were only twenty four hours until Kaiba's supposed party. He was still dreading the moment. Three hours of out of control, young adults in his home. Not only did he think he was going to have a nervous breakdown, but he didn't know how he was going to handle all the lovesick girls who were bound to try and flirt with him. Though these were also famous celebrity females, that didn't stop them from wanting to get their hands on him. He despised girls like that, who thought of nothing but being with him because of his name and his company.

_Damn it! I can't believe I let Mokuba talk me into doing this. Okay, yeah, I understand that I'm in my twenties and I should enjoy being young while I can, but that doesn't mean I should drop what I'm doing with Kaiba Corp. I guess I could take this as a lesson. Maybe I should balance my company and my personal life, _He thought, letting out a stressful sigh.

_**Heh, it took you long enough. I mean really, who obsesses over their job as much as you do? **_His conscience asked, chuckling at him.

_I don't obsess over my job! _Kaiba thought, getting pissed at his conscience.

_**Oh really? Who comes home from their job just to work some more? Normal people come home and actually sleep...you on the other hand, are the only exception. Point being, you need a life. And no your job is not the life I'm talking about. Trust me you need this party. Plus, I know you've been thinking about Gardner. That little scene when you saw her in her panties was quite hilarious. It makes me laugh how you try to hold back urges that normal men would have given into, **_His conscience explained, smirking.

_Okay, but I'm not a normal man. I'll admit that Gardner is...hot and quite attractive, but that's doesn't mean I'm gaga over her, _Kaiba thought, clearly lying to himself.

_**Riiiigghhhht, you keep thinking that. I know how you really feel about her. You're in love with her. She's always on your mind and just the sight of her makes you uncontrollably horny. I mean who could blame you. She has a huge ass and thighs that you can drool over...and let's not forgot her rack up top, **_His conscience thought, making inappropriate sounds along with his statement.

_You're doing that on purpose. Oh no..., _Kaiba thought, feeling his pants all of a sudden get tighter, _You just like pissing me the hell off, don't you?_

_**No, I'm just trying to make you see reason. You clearly want to screw this chick...or be with her as you so call it, so this party you're throwing will give you the chance. No one has to know...well, that is if she doesn't make too much noise, **_His conscience mentioned, plainly.

_Okay, go away now!_ Kaiba thought, growling at his conscience. After all that little arguement with his own head, he realized that his own conscience may be right. Maybe he just needed to stop being so uptight and let loose for once. Have fun and be young.

xxxx

That same night, Yugi was sitting in his room, debating whether or not to go to Kaiba's party tomorrow night, while he was working on his English paper. He found it weird that someone as conservative as Kaiba would be having a party with other young people.

_You'd think that he'd be afraid that his house would be ruined, as much as it cost him, _Yugi thought, sipping some more of his frappuccino from Starbucks. It just didn't sound like Kaiba, at all. Yugi knew that he didn't have anything better to do tomorrow night, except study for his accounting exam, but he knew he didn't have any trouble with it.

_Maybe I'll go. I have nothing better to do, and I refuse to watch old time movies with Grandpa again, _Yugi thought, seeing that he was getting a video chat message from Joey, "Hey, Joey, what's up?"

"_Hey, Yug, did you get some invitation in the mail from rich boy? Apparently he's having a party this weekend._" Joey said, waving the invitation in the camera.

"Yeah, I got one. I just find it so odd that Kaiba of all people is having a party. I didn't think he knew how to do that kind of thing. I mean, he always walks around with a stick up his ass acting like an arrogant jerk." Yugi mentioned, sipping his frappuccino again.

"_You know, I'm kinda thinking that maybe Mokuba was helping him with this party. If rich boy was picking the guests, I know I'd be the last person he'd think of letting walk into his house._" Joey realized, setting the invitation back down.

"Possibly. Eh, I might go. I really don't want to spend another weekend watching old time movies with Grandpa. I love the man, but there's only so many old movies I can take before I fall asleep." Yugi replied, shrugging.

"Come on, Yug, be nice to your gramps. He can't help that he can't keep up with this day and age." Joey said, hearing his mom asking him what he wanted for dinner, "I gotta go, Yug. Apparently my mom is making dinner."

"See ya." Yugi smiled, shutting the video chat off.

* * *

After thinking really hard and logical over the last few days, Tea decided that she would go to Kaiba's party. She thought of making plans with Yugi and the others, but she found out that they had previous engagements as well. At the moment, Tea was looking through her closet for something to wear. Tonight, she wanted to go for a cute, flirty yet laid back look. After taking a shower, she decided to go with a deep midnight blue, strapless dress that had periwinkle, light pink, light yellow, and sea green floral patterns on it. She wore a silver necklace that had a little ballet slipper pendant, and another necklace that was a chrome color with a chunky star pendant. She decided not to wear any tights since it was such a nice, cool night. She wore taupe colored pumps He hair was in loose curls with a lot of volume.

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but it's whatever." Tea muttered, grabbing her keys and heading out to her car. She felt really nervous as she started her car. There would most likely be celebrities at this party, and she would be an outsider. Some wouldn't pay her any mind, but then there would be the others, especially girls, who would try to make her feel like a piece of trash.

_It doesn't matter. I'm going to this party in an effort to have fun. That's the whole point, _Tea thought, continuing to drive through the night.

xxxx

"I still can't believe I'm doing this." Kaiba murmurred, sighing. Instead of his normal attire that consisted of trenchcoats and suits, Mokuba gave him something super casual to wear, which consisted of a black v-neck shirt, ripped up skinny jeans, and navy Vans.

"Wow, bro. You actually look like a normal guy." Mokuba told him, giving his brother a thumbs up.

"How the hell do you sit down in these? I can't even feel my crotch." Kaiba grumbled, sitting down on his bed.

"I manage...you just have to get used to them." Mokuba replied, plainly.

"Yeah, there won't be any need for me to get used to them. After today, I'm _not_ wearing these ever again." Kaiba told him, wiggling around in his jeans, "These are cutting off the circulation in my legs and thighs."

"Like I said, you'll get used to them." Mokuba repeated, tapping away on his touchscreen phone.

"So, just out of curiousity, how many people am I going to have to worry about possibly destroying my home?" Kaiba asked, raising a brow at his brother.

"Yeah, about that...," Mokuba murmurred, averting his gaze.

"You weren't planning on staying, were you?" Kaiba questioned, glaring at Mokuba.

"No, not really. I mean, I'm fifteen. I can't drink, and I really don't want to get a hangover." Mokuba explained.

"How would you know about getting a hangover?" Kaiba asked, making Mokuba go silent, "Since when have you been drinking?"

"It was at Tasha's party a month ago." Mokuba admitted, biting his lip nervously.

"Yeah, I think you know you're grounded when you get back." Kaiba told him, as his little brother hung his head in shame.

xxxx

Unfortunately for Tea, seeing as how the Kaiba mansion was already full of cars all around the premises, she had to park her car around the corner and walk. Though the spring breeze felt really nice at that time of the night, she felt as though she'd rather step on hot rocks than to be walk around the block in three inch pumps.

_It was stupid of me to wear heels. I should have just went with my black flip flops and called it a day, _She thought, reaching the small line that lead into the mansion, _Guess I should have expected Kaiba to have security...why wouldn't he?_

While she was patiently waiting in line, Tea could already see some recognizable young celebrities waiting to be let in. It ranged from Olivia Rennan to Joseph Marigotti, her all time favorite actor.

_I can't believe I'm going to the same party as Joseph Marigotti! Wow, I sound like a lovesick fan, _She thought, snapping herself out of her daze.

"Tea? Is that you?" A familiar voice asked, as she turned around to see Yugi standing behind her.

"Yugi! You got invited?" Tea questioned, happy and shocked that he was there.

"Yeah, and Joey did too, surprisingly. I mean, Kaiba hates him, so...I don't know what's going on with that." Yugi admitted, shrugging.

"Okay, Yug, the next time we decide to park anywhere...you're doing it! I had to...oh hey, Tea." Joey greeted, arriving right behind his tri-colored hair friend. He was wearing a black motorcycle jacket with a dark grey t-shirt and jeans.

"Wow, Joey, you can tell you wanted to come out and play tonight." Tea teased, giggling a little bit.

"Haha, very funny. But no, I'm not gonna do that to Mai." Joey smiled, chuckling at her comment.

"Are you two even going out?" Yugi asked, curiously, "I mean, you guys have been flirting for as long as you two have known each other."

"That's a story for another time, but in a sense, I'm close to asking her out." Joey admitted, trying not to sound too mushy.

"Aww, that's sweet, Joey. It's about time." Tea replied, cooing a little bit.

"Yeah, I know, but right now I wanna party! I'm excited to see what rich boy has up his sleeves." Joey said, growing excited as the three of them almost approached the door. Once Tea was in front, a huge guy dressed in an all black suit and Aviators looked down on her, not once taking his eyes off her.

"Do you have your gold card that came with the invite?" He asked in a monotone voice, as if he were another Kaiba Corp computer.

"Uhm, yeah." Tea murmurred, handing him the card as he scanned it.

"You can go." He said, as she walked in. She could hear Chris Brown's latest single roaring all around the mansion and all sorts of people dancing, mingling, and unfortunately for her eyes, making out.

_Just your typical teenage party. I'm surprised no one managed to smuggle in a keg, _Tea thought, giggling to herself.

"This party's hot!" Joey said, screaming over the music.

"I know. I can't believe he actually had this party to begin with." Yugi added, as they walked further in.

"Oh my God, it's Yugi Motou." Tea heard a girl say, as she and her friends started acting like lovey-dovey fan girls.

_This is going to be one interesting evening, _Tea thought, beginning to enjoy the festivities.

* * *

After about an hour into the party, Kaiba was already starting to pop in aspirin pills. The music pounding and all the lights flickering were starting to give him a migrane. He had to admit, he was somewhat having fun, aside from getting a migrane. He was enjoying all the fruity drinks that he had consummed and was surprised that he wasn't drunk yet.

_Who knew this whole party thing would actually catch my interest...oh right, not me, _Kaiba thought, guzzling down two bottles of water with his aspirin. As he went back downstairs, he kind of thought of Mokuba and how he should probably be thinking of ways to thank him. He knew his brother was always a kind hearted and caring person, and that he just wanted for him to be happy. Though some of the goofy stuff annoyed the shit out of him, Kaiba knew that Mokuba did things like that because he cared.

As he walked down the other set of stairs, he knew there was a presence around that should be...at least not anywhere outside of the foyer and even the living room where things were being held. He looked around for a moment and noticed that at least no one was having sex anywhere in sight. As he got to the family room, he noticed someone in there...by themselves. It was someone he recognized, but wasn't sure if that was them.

"Gardner?" Kaiba questioned, as she nearly jumped out of her shoes.

"Oh fu...Kaiba...I-I-I'm sorry, I'll leave. I-I-I was just looking at these old paintings." Tea stammered, nearly knocking a picture frame over.

"No, it's fine. Just as long as you don't touch anything." Kaiba mentioned, noticing the same feeling he had when she stayed with him was creeping back. Then and there, he believed she looked radiant like an angel. She was more angelic than the Mona Lisa, more exquisite than any celebrity female that he layed eyes on and more ravishing than ever. Her skin was like alabaster, pale with a vibrant glow to it. Her lips were full and pink, with a defined cupid's bow. Her hair a heavy, dark brown, to the point that it looked black. It looked dark against her pale skin. Her hair in loose spirals down to her chest. Her voluptuous figure balanced out with her soft, feminine features.

"I didn't know that you were interested in paintings." Tea said, breaking the awkward silence.

He snapped himself out her entrancing beauty, "Yeah, I've always admired paintings...the great ones I mean."

"I see you like a lot of Picasso and Van Gogh. They're my favorites. I like how they catch the essence of the beauty around them. Something so complex can turn out to be the most beautiful thing." Tea muttered, looking around his family room.

_Hn, just like you, _He thought, not feeling ashamed of his thought, for once. In a way, she was complex to him. He just knew her as the girl who had always preached about friendship when they were younger. Now, things seemed different with her, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Is this a picture of your mother? I noticed you have her eyes." Tea mentioned, looking at a picture of a woman with ebony hair, with her arms embraced around a young Kaiba. She reminded Tea of Snow White. Her skin was the same as Kaiba's, with her ebony hair making her skin appear brighter, and her lips were somewhat full and pink.

"Yes, that was my mother. It was taken just before she got pregnant with Mokuba. He always asks me how wonderful she was." Kaiba responded, somewhat smiling at the picture of himself and his mother.

"What about you? Do you miss her?" Tea asked, quietly.

"Most of the time, yes. It's just depressing that I only had her for few years of my life, and then she was taken from Mokuba and I." Kaiba admitted, setting the picture back down. He set his attention back on her, "You look...good, Gardner. Even better than some girls here."

_Is this his way of saying I'm beautiful? _Tea thought, a little surprised that he was comparing her to other girls. The more she looked at him, the more he looked like a Greek god. Though she had to admit that his attire deviated from his normal trenchcoat with his company logo on it, but what he was wearing definitely still made him look quite captivating. His v-neck t-shirt was tight enough to show off his well toned chest, but she found it funny that he was wearing skinny jeans. His face was intense and his eyes were a deep blue that penetrated your soul.

He took a few steps until he was towering over her, as he bent down to her ear, "I can tell I make you nervous. I can hear your heart beating."

Before she could get another word out, his lips collided into her's. She tensed once his arms were around her, pressing their bodies closer to each other. He took his other hand and ran it through her hair, while he kept his around her waist. His tongue brushed across her mouth, she granted him entrance. She became less tense and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. It astounded him that Tea was such a good kisser.

_Why am I even kissing her? Damn this feels good, _Kaiba thought, continuing their kiss. Every fibre in his body wanted her, _needed_ her, as if it were instinctual.

Taking a wrong step, Tea felt them fall backwards onto the couch, with him on top of her. She took her leg and wrapped it around his waist, spontaneously. Their kissing became more vigorous and heated with each passing second.

_Why am I making out with Kaiba? And in his family room, with him on top of me? But my God, this feels so fucking good!_ Tea thought, running her hands through her hair. The next thing that happened completely threw her off. If she didn't know better, she could feel some huge bulge rubbing against her crotch. What made it even worse was that the area down there was responding to it.

_Oh my God...does...Kaiba..h-ha-have a...boner?_ Tea thought, as they continued kissing. Apparently, he noticed to when he stopped kissing her. She let out a tiny whimper when he stopped kissing her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you." Kaiba muttered, lowly.

"No, its fine...really, I was kissing you just as much as you were kissing me...so yeah." Tea responded, fixing her dress, "I have to get going."

Before he could say a word, she left the room, going back to where the party was. Tea couldn't believe that she had even been through something like that. Even though it felt surprisingly good to her, it was also disturbing at the same time. It was embarassing that her body responded to Kaiba having a boner. She knew that's how a female bodies react to a male's, but Kaiba wasn't her boyfriend.

_Do I want to be with him? That's a no brainer, of course I do, but I don't think I can fall for another guy again. I mean, I've been doing better as far as getting over Atem, but I just don't think I can handle another guy hurting me, _Tea thought, approaching her car. After getting in her car, she drove off down the street, deciding whether the risk would be all worth it in the end.

* * *

**And so ends another dramatic chapter. I wonder where things will go? Heh, who knows what I'll have up my sleeves ;) Next time: Tea hits a road block when she can't seem to start coming up with two more songs for her recital. Will there be something that can channel her to write? Also, Kaiba can't seem to get his encounter with Tea off his mind. Just what will Kaiba do? Has Mokuba won the bet? R&R plz!**

**Cherriez**


	5. What a Feeling

_Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible-it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could._

~_Barbara de Angelis_

* * *

What a Feeling

A week passed by since his lips touched hers. Since then, Tea hadn't been able to write a single lyric. With another month closer to her recital, Tea felt like she had to pick up the pace. Lately, she'd been busy with dance and her music. Her dance studio was getting ready for their annual spring production. All the time that she believed to be wasted was spent on thinking about Kaiba.

_I can't get over that kiss. I mean, I don't understand what happened...he just randomly kissed me. On top of that I can believe I could feel his boner and I responded to it, _Tea thought, sighing as he put her guitar back in it's case. There's wasn't a point to her holding it, since she couldn't figure out anymore lyrics to her new song.

_I need something to channel my brain to write more songs, or else I'm screwed, _She thought, sighing as she drifted into a soft slumber.

xxxx

"Seto...Seto...SETO!" Mokuba shouted, making his older sibling jump out of his daydream, "You've been acting funny since the party. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just really tired." Kaiba sighed, shutting his eyes, "Anyway, you needed something?"

"I was going to ask if you had the contracts sent to Wilson Industries yet." Mokuba mentioned, casually.

"Yeah, I took care of that yesterday. I'm just going to go to bed. I can't keep my eyes open for more than thirty seconds at a time." Kaiba murmurred, as Mokuba left his brother's bedroom.

_It'll be good for me to get some sleep. God knows I need it, _Kaiba thought, drifting off to sleep...

_Lustful, merciless, and animalistic is what described Seto Kaiba, in this distinct setting. His body and hers bare of everything but the soft, silk sheets beneath them. Her sleek, elegant, curvy body enveloped and contorted into his arms, like a cat. She was seductive, yet delicate. Their tongues were fighting for dominance while she straddling him against his massive headboard. He licked and kissed where her neck and shoulder met. _

_"Se-Seto...," Tea moaned, as he flipped her over so that he was in control. He loved how his name was the one that escaped her lips, and how he could make her sound breathless. His lips placed light butterfly kisses all around her belly button. He felt her fingers tug at his hair, while his lips collided with her's once again and continued to ravish them as much as he possibly could. She continued raking her hands gently through his hair, as his fingertips carressed every inch of her porcelain body. The softness of it made him want to go crazy._

_He couldn't handle the pressure anymore. He slowly entered himself into her, groaning as he did so. He let her get used to him before he thrusted repetitively into her, faster and deeper. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, bounding his hips to hers. He continued to thrust more with each passing second, making her moans increase in volume, until they were both nearly screaming for each other. Before the pressure built even more, he took her hands and pinned them to the bed, so he was in complete control. _

_"Se..SETO! AHHH...AHHHH..AHHHHHH!" She screamed, as he finally released completely inside her._

As soon as the dream was over, he shot up from his lying position in his bed. Kaiba didn't feel freaked out about the dream, but that's what bothered them even more.

_Damnit. I shouldn't feel this way about Gardner...but ever since a few nights ago, she's been on my mind and it won't go away, _Kaiba thought, groaning to himself.

_**Come on, stop being a little bitch, we've been through this. You...like...her! It's not that hard to figure out...and it's obvious you want to fuck her. Hell, you were just about there a few nights ago, **_His conscience told him, sounding annoyed.

_But it's pissing me off! I mean, it's like day in and day freaking out I think about screwing her, and oddly that idea is really appealing right now, _Kaiba thought, feeling himself sweating.

_**Fine. Then we've come to the understanding that one, you like her. Two, you want to fuck her, and three, Mokuba wins that bet you two agreed on, **_His conscience confirmed, as Kaiba just now remembered the bet.

_Fuck! Now I owe that little twerp money? Damn it all! _Kaiba thought, throwing a pillow over his head and screaming into it.

* * *

"Are you serious? Seto Kaiba...making out with you on his couch, in his family room, at his party, in his million dollar mansion?" Serenity asked, sounding shocked.

"Yes, Serenity, that is what I just said." Tea giggled, rolling her eyes playfully, as she ate another spoonful of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. She had to admit it was fun having a girls night. Though the guys and herself were on good terms like they used to be, she still needed to be around her female friends instead of hanging with guys all the time.

"Wow, look at you, Tea...first you like the mysterious, hero type, and now it's the sexy, tall, dark, and rich type. I gotta say you're on a role my friend." Serenity responded, smiling.

"That's not how it is and you know it!" Tea exclaimed, making Serenity laugh.

"Why can't you just admit that you seriously like him? I mean, he let you stay in his mansion when you almost got raped, he saw you in his oversized dress shirt and your Superman panties, and now you two made out on his couch, with him on top of you I may add." Serenity explained, eating a bit of her ice cream.

"Okay, I will admit he's smoking hot, but I don't know. I just don't think I can get involved with another guy again. I mean, I am kind of over Atem now, but I'm honestly scared that if I get too attached to another guy, then they'll leave too." Tea replied, shrugging.

"I know it's mostly just me looking from the outside in, but Tea, you won't know until you try. I mean, how do you know Kaiba doesn't like you back?" Serenity asked, bringing up a point.

"I mean, come on now, Serenity, we've been bickering and hating each others guts since middle school. What makes you think I remotely want to go out with that same guy?" Tea questioned, giving the red head a distrubed look.

"Hey, people can change...and by the looks of his behavior, I say he likes you too. Come on, would Kaiba really kiss you if he didn't like you?" Serenity asked, making Tea go quiet.

_I guess she does have a point...and I do kind of feel like my crush on him is coming back. Plus, those times I was with him, it kind of filled the hole in my heart from Atem leaving, _Tea thought, sighing.

"It's okay, Tea. I won't tell anyone that you like Kaiba. It'll be our little secret." Serenity said, smiling.

"Thanks." Tea murmurred, focusing her attention back on her ice cream.

xxxx

"Bro, seriously are you okay? You're all sweaty." Mokuba mentioned, watching his brother come in the kitchen.

"I'm fine, Mokuba." Kaiba told him, opening the refridgerator. He had another dream that he was engaging in sexual activities with another brunette that was on his mind. The other depressing thing was that he feared that Mokuba would win their bet.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed. Hope you can get some sleep, big bro." Mokuba told him, before disappearing upstairs.

Mokuba had been keeping track. It had been a little while since the party and he, along with the rest of the staff in the Kaiba mansion were beginning to notice the eldest sibling's behavior had been way out of the ordinary. A few days prior, Mokuba had to wake him up because he overslept and almost missed a meeting they had with an important client for the new tech advances on the duel disk. There was another few times that Mokuba had mentioned Tea's name in random conversations he was having with Kaiba and he seemed to get freaked out at the mention of her name. He would either blush like a tomato or he'd nervously jump.

And that's when it hit him...

_I think he's acting weird because of Tea. The only problem is that we haven't been around Tea for like a few weeks now...so what could...ohhhh, I know now. Seto likes Tea! YES! I WIN THE BET! HAHAHAHA! YES! FIVE THOUSAND BUCKS FOR ME!_ Mokuba thought, doing a little victory dance in the hallway.

"Master Mokuba...is something wrong? You looked like you were having a seizure." James said, politely.

"Uh, no, James...I was just on my way to bed." Mokuba told him, blushing in embarrassment as he ran along to bed.

"That boy is really something sometimes." James murmurred, noticing Kaiba coming down the hallway, "Do you need anything, Master Seto?"

"No thank you, James. Good night." Kaiba responded, quietly.

"Master Seto, I hope I'm not prying, but are you having night terrors?" James asked, curiously.

Normally, Kaiba knew he would go off the deep end for someone asking him about his personal affairs, but not with James. James had been his butler since he was around fifteen years old, and was more nuturing than Gozaboro had been since he adopted him and Mokuba. James was like a father to him a lot more than Gozaboro was and always went to him when he was depressed and stressed out because of his step-father.

"No...why do you ask?" Kaiba asked, biting his lip.

"Well, I seem to recall a few nights ago you calling out a woman's name in your sleep...many times." James responded, making Kaiba's eye twitch.

"Must have been something else." Kaiba mumbled, looking away from James.

"Sir, I've known you and your brother for six years. I am no fool to know that you are in love...or rather lusting after this woman your brother speaks of." James told him, smiling.

"Pshhh, that's absurd. I'm not in love with Gardner. Yes, she's attractive, but no." Kaiba scoffed, as he went to his room. After shutting his door, he knew he was done in for. If he couldn't convince James that he wasn't in love with Tea, then he couldn't convince anyone.

_It's best that she doesn't get involved with me. People are going to think she's lost her mind. Plus, she's too emotionally unstable to be able to handle the press, _Kaiba thought, sighing, _But I'm so captivated by her. Damnit...I'm falling for Gardner. I can't be...I'm Seto Kaiba, and I fall for no one...well, unfortunately this time I'm not so lucky._

* * *

"Come on, ladiez, étirer, allonger votre corps! You are all swanz, elegant, poised, graceful. Channel that l'energie...pousser!" A french woman directed, watching all the young women in her class finish their rehearsal, "Tres bien fait aujourd'hui dames. Passez une bonne journee!"

As all the other girls left the studio, Madame Fournier noticed Tea was the last one to leave class, as always. Over the last few years, she had become more of a mother figure to Tea, since she knew her real mother was always away on business.

"Tea, ma chere, puis-je avoir mot a vous dire?" She asked, as Tea zipped her bag.

_Tea, dear, may I have a word with you?_

"Oui, madame." Tea responded, practicing her French.

"Je peux dire que vous avez ete insistes. Est tout bien?" Madame Fournier asked, patting her cheek gently.

_I can tell you've been stressed. Is everything okay?_

"Vraiment, j'ai juste un peu de probleme de gars." Tea admitted, bashfully. She really didn't know if she should classify thinking about Seto Kaiba as a legitimate boy problem.

_Yeah, I'm just having a little guy trouble._

"Votre francais s'est ameriole, le cheri. Ces problemes de garcon n'auraient pas rien a faire avec Seto Kaiba n'est-ce pas?" Madame Fournier asked, smiling as a blush came to Tea's face.

_Your french has gotten better, sweetheart. These boy problems wouldn't have anything to do with Seto Kaiba, would they?_

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tea said, still blushing.

"Tea, dearest, I know when 'ou are denying zings. There 'ave been times when zee ozer gals in class 'ave mentioned his name, and 'ou blush like a tomate rouge cerise," Madame Fournier giggled, happily, "It iz okay to 'ave a crush on ze boy, Tea."

"I don't know. I mean, the last guy I was really into left me, and I really don't think I can put my heart into loving another one." Tea explained, while they both walked outside to the parking lot.

"Sweetie, 'ou will never know until 'ou try. Trust me, a dear friend of mine works for ze Kaiba brotherz, and zinks zat ze older one iz in need of a belle femme in his life. I personally zink 'ou are perfect for him." Madame Fournier explained, locking up the studio.

"Yeah, well as much as I'd love to talk more about Kaiba, I have to get home." Tea said, heading to her car.

"Remember, dinner tonight, ma chere." Madame Fournier reminded her, as Tea shut her car door and headed home.

xxxx

"And now...I'm...finished." Mokuba muttered, as he finished typing a paper for his advanced British literature class.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked, coming into the family room.

"British Lit paper...its on _Macbeth._ It's so easy to understand." Mokuba told him, shutting his Macbook.

"_Macbeth_ is kind of similar to Hamlet, except Hamlet was out for revenge against a political leader, rather than misinterpreting a prophecy like Macbeth did," Kaiba responded, plainly, "I'll be on the phone for a little bit with Wilson Industries discussing the contracts we sent them."

"Mkay. Good luck with that." Mokuba murmurred, waiting for his brother to get to a far enough distance. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Tea's number, "Hey, Tea, do you mind coming over this weekend? I need help in French, and you're perfect for the job...uhh huh, okay, thanks, bye!"

_Phase one of Operation Hook Up is complete, _He thought, going back to watching TV.

xxxx

"So, he needs you to help him in French?" Yugi asked, curiously.

"Yeah. I mean, he's my friend...and I don't mind helping him with something I've been learning since I was eight. Madame Fournier kind of took me on as a daughter figure, since she had all boys." Tea responded, messing with her hair, while they were watching TV in her living room.

"I've noticed you've been in thought a lot lately. Something on your mind?" Yugi asked, after taking a sip of his water.

"Just been having trouble deciding if I should move on and get with this guy I've been bumping into." Tea told him, biting her lip.

"I think you should follow your heart, Tea. Plus, I think it'll be good for you. I know that what happened before hurt you really bad, but you deserve to be happy. If moving on is the way to go about it, then you should do it." Yugi explained, smiling.

"You always know the right thing to say, which is why you're my best friend." She grinned, happily. She was grateful that he was so understanding. It's not that she didn't appreciate Joey and Tristan, but they just weren't on the same level as far as being compassionate like Yugi was.

"I try. I had fun, but I have to go, I'm taking Tristin out tonight." Yugi said, referring to his girlfriend who happened to have the same name as their good male friend.

"I still can't get used to you saying that because I keep thinking you're talking about our Tristan." Tea giggled, showing Yugi to the door.

"See you later, Tea...and good luck with that guy." Yugi told her, giving her a warm hug.

_Only if you knew that the guy I'm talking about is __**his**__ arch enemy, _Tea thought, accepting his hug, "I will and thanks. Be safe."

After Tea shut the door, she went back in her living room to watch more TV, when she noticed that she got a text from Mokuba.

_Hey, I forgot, wear something Tea-like :)_

"Wear something that's Tea-like. I hope this boy knows that Tea like is a t-shirt, yoga pants, and my fuzzy boots. Eh, I'll find something." Tea murmurred. She pulled out a casual, light pink sundress with a light grey cardigan, and taupe colored peep toe pumps. After quickly freshening up, she changed into her outfit and grabbed her purse.

_No point in giving myself a once over. I'm just going to Kaiba's mansion to help Mokuba with French...and that's all, _Tea thought, grabbing one of her old French textbooks that Madame Fournier bought her when she taught her a long time ago. Once she locked her door, she took out her phone and text Mokuba that she was on her way.

While Tea was driving to the Kaiba mansion, she couldn't help but let the other brunette cross her mind. She hadn't actually seen him in person since his party, after the awkward makeout session they shared. It was difficult for her to get what happened out of her mind.

_If we were to hypothetically get together, then hopefully he wouldn't treat me like he normally does when I'm with Yugi...then again this is Kaiba we're talking about, so I doubt it would happen, _Tea thought, waiting behind a mini traffic jam. All she had to remember was to be calm, cool, and collected and things would go well, is all Tea could hope for.

* * *

While Kaiba was taking a break from doing his typical work from Kaiba Corp at home, he went downstairs to get some coffee, until he saw Mokuba in the living room with his backpack and AP French textbook.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Kaiba asked, sipping from his Starbucks travel coffee mug.

"Getting ready for my tutor to come." Mokuba responded, opening his notebook.

"I thought you were good at French." Kaiba said, finding it odd that Mokuba even needed a tutor.

"I'm proficient at everything, outside of speaking. On the exam, the last part of section two is the speaking portion, and my speed sucks, so it completely throws my accuracy off." Mokuba lied, swiftly. The whole tutoring thing was part of his plan to get Kaiba and Tea together. Little did Kaiba know, Mokuba had the highest semester grade in his AP French class to date.

"Well, if I weren't so busy, I would help you." Kaiba replied, before Mokuba gave him a look, "What? What's wrong with me helping you?"

"The last time you helped me with school work, you almost went into a cardiac arrest from your anger management problem, so I'll pass." Mokuba mentioned, biting his lip.

"Okay, it's not my fault...it was late, and I didn't have any coffee." Kaiba argued, hearing the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it, sir." James told Kaiba, answering the door, "Oh, hello, Ms. Gardner."

Once he heard Gardner, Kaiba choked on his coffee and broke out into a fit of coughs.

_Did he just say...Gardner? _Kaiba thought, watching the dark haired beauty walk in, _Damn she looks fuckable...oh my God, I don't think I can take it._

"Hey, Tea, glad you can make it." Mokuba smiled, giving her a hug.

"Moi aussi. Sommes commencés, mon petit élève." Tea responded, patting his head.

_Me too. Let's get started, my little pupil._

"Oui, mademoiselle." Mokuba told her, as they moved into the living room.

"She is such a wonderful girl, helping the young master with his French. She speaks it very well, I might add." James commented, leaving Kaiba to sip his coffee.

"Vous avez le problème parlant avec la vitesse, je suis correct?" Tea asked him, setting down on the couch.

_You're having trouble speaking with speed, am I correct?_

"Oui...ehhhh, quand j'essaie...mes mots sont vraiment brouillés." Mokuba muttered, pretending to stammer.

_Yeah, ehhh...when I try, my words get really jumbled._

"Well, it's very good that you're understanding what I'm saying, so that's a good start. I'm going to do what my ballet teacher used to do with me. I'm just gonna start a random conversation, and you can come up with whatever response to what I'm saying." Tea explained, noticing that Kaiba was in the kitchen reading the paper.

Whether or not he was actually reading the paper, was irrelevant to her. Just the thought of Kaiba gave her an idea as to how to start their conversation.

"J'ai de bonnes nouvelles. J'ai récemment rencontré ce gars à l'école l'autre jour et il est incroyablement chaud." Tea told Mokuba, getting Mokuba and Kaiba's attention.

_I have good news. I've recently met this guy at school the other day, and he's incredibly hot._

_Wait, she's met a guy already?_ Mokuba thought, before responding, "Oh, bien c'est génial. Eh...Quel est.. le gars comme?"

_Oh, that's great. Eh...what's the guy like?_

"Bien, il fait les études pour devenir un acteur. Son nom est Xavier Van Deursen." Tea said, as Kaiba almost choked on his coffee again.

_Well, he's studying to become an actor. His name is Xavier Van Deursen._

"You...you mean, Van Deursen as in Van Deursen Corporation?" Mokuba asked, with just as much shock as his brother.

"Qui?" Tea questioned, feeling confused.

_Who?_

"Sorry, Tea. I'm just shocked because that guy has the same last name as Jordan Van Deursen. His company is one of Kaiba Corp's partners." Mokuba explained, still in a state of shock.

"Hn. Bonne chance avec cela. Le gamin est juste un autre perdant d'homme de haute société qui utilise juste son argent de parents, plutôt que le travail pour cela comme tous les autres." Kaiba added, taking another sip of coffee.

_Hn. Good luck with that. The kid is just another socialite who just uses his parents money, rather than work for it like everyone else._

"Les sons à moi comme de quelqu'un jaloux." Tea muttered. She had no idea that Kaiba was fluent in French.

_Sounds to me like someone's jealous._

"Well, I'm leaving." Mokuba mumbled, heading upstairs.

"S'il vous plaît, comme si je serais jaloux de ce gamin. Plus, je pourrais vous avoir en tout temps j'ai désiré. J'ai cru qu'il y a quelques semaines était juste un assez bon exemple." Kaiba responded, smirking. On the inside, he knew he was breaking down. He knew he couldn't resist his urges for too much longer.

_Please, as if I'd be jealous of that kid. Plus, I could have you anytime I desired. I thought that just a few weeks ago was a good enough example._

"Oh, est qu'ainsi?" Tea questioned, getting up in his face.

_Oh, is that so?_

"Oui." He answered, just before pulling her into a fierce kiss. At that moment, Tea tried to somewhat push him away, but his grip around her waist was too strong, and she eventually gave in. Him kissing her made her dizzy, that she almost fell to the floor. He ran his hands through her long, soft, dark locks. He picked her up from behind her legs and carried her upstairs.

_Why am I letting him kiss me? Oh, who am I kidding, this is heaven, _Tea thought, before realizing that they were already in his room, and she was pinned against the back of his door. She couldn't help but grab his shirt and rip it open, letting all the buttons fly everywhere.

"Qui savait que vous pourriez être si audacieux? Je l'aime." Kaiba said, licking her earlobe. She let out a tiny gasp, as his right hand wandered to the straps of her dress.

_Who knew you could be so bold? I like it._

Before he could slid it off her shoulder, Tea shoved him back on his bed and straddled him. She leaned down that they could resume kissing.

_What has gotten into me? Oh yeah, I'm a hormonal twenty year old who's getting a whole bunch of Seto Kaiba lovin', _Tea thought, as their kissing grew deeper. Taking his opportunity, he slid her thin dress straps down her shoulders, revealing her black, strapless bra. She kicked the rest of her dress off to the floor, sporting just her bra and Batman panties.

_This girl and her assorted superhero panties, _Seto thought, making sure his hands touched every inch of her body. He noticed that in addition to the three tattoos he already knew she had, he noticed she had a belly button piercing.

"Prenez-moi, Seto." Tea whispered, half-begging and half-whimpering. Before she could realize what was going on, his pants were already on the ground, and so were her underwear. She would have let out a scream as soon as he entered himself into her, if it hadn't been for his lips against hers. Their tongues again were at war, while he thrusted in and out at a faster pace. The faster he thrusted, the more she dug her nails into his back, as she felt herself clenching around him.

"Fuck!" He groaned, ramming his hips into hers.

"Se..Seto..," She whimpered, not caring if anyone in the mansion heard them.

"Damn, you're fucking tight." He growled, as he kept thrusting. He could feel the pressure within him almost coming to a head. He gently moved her hands from his back and pinned them down to the bed, while thrusting as fast as his limbs allowed him to.

"Ahhh...Seto..Seto...ahhh...Se..SETO!" She screamed, feeling every part of him. He thrusted into her a few more times, before he released himself. He tiredly wrapped her and himself in the soft, silk sheets. He watched her drift to sleep for a good portion of time. He noticed that in the moonlight, she truly looked like an angel. She looked incredibly adorable when she slept. He slowly moved his hand to move a strand of her hair, and caressed her soft cheek.

_I never thought that any woman would be able to attract me as much as she has, _He thought, as an actual smile crept to his face. A feeling he hadn't felt in so long made him feel whole.

* * *

**Well, I enjoy writing the last little bit of this chapter...and no, I'm not talking about the lemon, I'm talking about the little smutty stuff and the arguement that was going on in French :) I've actually wanted to take French for the longest, but my school doesn't offer it anymore :/ Anyway, I promise I won't take too much longer with the next chapter. Senior is almost coming to a conclusion...thank God! R&R guys and I hope you all have a good Easter :)**

**Cherriez **


	6. Filling in the Gap

**I'm really quite surprised that the last chapter got so much positive feedback. I didn't think that anyone would go crazy over them speaking French, but its whatever. I'm really excited that I'm graduating soon, so that I can write more over the summer :) Well, I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter :)**

_"[M]y love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break...,"_

_~Sullivan Ballou, letter to wife Sarah, July 14th, 1861._

* * *

Filling in the Gap

~_Tea~_

I never thought that in four months, I would feel so overjoyed. I spent the last two years moping over a past love, but now one thing...or rather someone turned it around full circle. If anyone asked me two years ago if I would ever be Seto Kaiba's girlfriend, I might have barfed in my mouth a little bit. Ever since we started going out a few months ago, I feel like he fills the hole in my heart that Atem left. I actually remember all the times I smile and laugh. I honestly believe that Seto has changed, but if we never came across each other like we did, I would have never known...

xxxx

While putting the finishing touch to her final song, Tea yawned while looking outside at the rain coming down hard. Since the rain wasn't too appealing to her, she glanced over at her calender. There was only five days until her twenty first birthday. For the last month, Mokuba had been asking her what she wanted or if she wanted to go out somewhere with him and Seto. Every time he asked, she always told him that she didn't know. She thought about it for a little bit, and she knew she wanted to spend her birthday with her friends, but there lied a problem.

She still hadn't told any of them, with the exception of Serenity, that she and Seto were dating. It wasn't that she was ashamed of Seto, but she was mostly afraid of Joey and Tristan's judgmental, and hateful attitude towards him.

_I mean, I really want to spend time with my boyfriend, but at the same time, I want to spend time with Yugi and the guys. Plus, Joey's been promising to take me out for my first legal drink, _Tea thought, smiling to herself a little. Ever since she reconciled with Yugi and the guys, she was glad that they were starting to go back to having fun and hanging out like old times.

While she was caught up in her thoughts, she heard her phone ring. As soon as she saw who it was, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she smiled with such joy.

"Hey, what's up?" Tea asked, cheerfully.

"_I sent a car for you. It'll be there in a half hour._" Seto told her, with a certain tone, as if he were hiding something.

"Seto, what are you doing? Why are you sending a car here?" Tea questioned, giggling.

"_I'll see you in a half hour. Oh, and wear something that'll turn me on._" He told her, before hanging up.

"Ughh, I guess, Seto." Tea muttered, hanging up her phone. She couldn't help but laugh at Seto's sexual innuendos. It still made her laugh that all it took for them to get together was having sex. Though their relationship wasn't a dalliant one, nevertheless, it didn't keep them from doing it.

_I should probably stop thinking about getting some good lovin' and get ready, _Tea thought, pulling out a bunch of clothes until she could find a good outfit. She finally decided on wearing her long, grey, dressy tank top, dark skinny jeans, and red pumps. She was anxious to know why Seto had sent a car for her. They had just spent the weekend together and now she was going back to the mansion.

After showering and doing her hair, Tea decided that she would throw him a curve ball and wear her glasses. Though she liked wearing her contacts better, she really liked how she looked in her frames and it always made her feel like she was cute little nerd.

_Well, Joey and Tristan think I'm a nerd, _She thought, grabbing her purse after hearing the limo pull up in front of her house.

"Ms. Gardner, Mr. Kaiba is waiting for you." Roland told her, opening the door for her.

"Thank you, Roland." Tea smiled, as he shut the door. She could only imagine what her boyfriend had in store for the night.

xxxx

"So explain to me why you're getting dressed up all nice?" Mokuba asked, bouncing on his brother's king sized bed.

"I told you, I'm taking Tea out for her birthday." Seto told him, tying his ice blue skinny tie.

"Oh, so that's why you're wearing a fitted tux. I'm kind of not appreciating you cramping my style, Seto." Mokuba mentioned, playfully.

"Okay, I'm sorry that my stylist said that my wardrobe was like a place someone uses to barf alcohol." Seto said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, I thought Tea's birthday wasn't until Thursday." Mokuba pointed out, playing tetris on his iPad.

"It is, but she might be doing something with her family and those dorks." Seto responded, rolling his eyes at the mere thought of Yugi and the others.

"Mmm, it's possible. Just make sure you be a good little boy and use protection this time." Mokuba said, bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Mokuba." Seto said, giving him the death glare.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I mean, everyone on staff and even me heard you guys that night, literally." Mokuba muttered, wiping the tears from his eyes

"Yeah, you don't have to remind me. It was bad enough I had to go through a week of everyone cracking sexual jokes on me. Even James didn't hold back." Seto grumbled, trying to erase the embarrassing memory from his head.

"It's okay, Seto, I'll just be on my laptop getting a whole bunch of Facebook requests from girls I don't know. And yes, I'm aware I have no life." Mokuba responded, casually.

"I'll be back in a few hours." Seto told him, grabbing his keys and leaving.

"Make sure you have enough money for a hotel suite." Mokuba shouted, snickering to himself.

"I hate you." Seto shouted, even though Mokuba could barely hear him.

* * *

Once the limo pulled up in front of a restaurant that Tea had never heard of, she knew something was up. After Roland opened the door for her, she recognized where she was. She was in Remington Park, a high class city where you had to have loads of cash to be living there. It was a place she remembered her mother considering to move to when she in the midst of her suffering from Atem.

_Funny how ironic things can be, _Tea thought, walking into the restaurant. Though she thought she was dressed nice, she immediately felt like a deer in headlights. Everyone in the restaurant looked so classy and well dressed, having their intellectual conversations about politics, stocks, the next upcoming galas and conventions. She on the other hand felt like she was walking into a burger joint that had no significance.

"Hello, are you looking for someone?" The hostess asked, sweetly. She looked to be younger than Tea, and she had to cutest green eyes and sweet little voice.

"Ummmm, I know this sounds dumb, but I really have no idea if I'm supposed to be here. My boyfriend's limo just picked me up and brought me here...," Tea explained, clutching her purse tightly.

"Oh, no that's fine. I'll show you to your table." She smiled, guiding Tea all the way to the back of the restaurant. After the walk, the hostess stopped at a door that lead outside.

"I think your boyfriend should be right this way. Have fun." The girl smiled, happily.

"Thank you." Tea responded, looking around. Outside, there was a nice little decorated pond that surrounded the huge, lit up gazebo in the center, with a table and two chairs.

_Wow, this is really beautiful, _Tea thought, looking around the entire thing.

"Happy Birthday." Seto's voice said, hugging her from behind.

"I knew this had your name written all over it. Thank you." Tea smiled, pecking his lips before her fingers laced in between his, "You know, I felt like a deer in headlights when I got here. I was seriously about to cry."

"I would say sorry, but that would defeat the purpose of this being a surprise. This was actually James' idea. He insisted, even though I told him you didn't want to be surprised." Seto explained, as they approached the gazebo.

"I never told you I didn't want to be surprised, I just preferred that you didn't." Tea corrected, giggling.

"Well, too bad. Here it is." Seto told her, pulling out her chair.

"Thank you." Tea grinned.

xxxx

While at the Game Shop, Yugi and the others were hanging out as usual, but Yugi had been trying to get ideas about what they should all do for Tea's birthday. Though it was five days away, he considered the possibility that she might be doing something with her mother or family.

"Come on guys, can we take this seriously? I really want to do something nice for Tea's birthday. I mean, especially since we haven't seen her for a long time." Yugi mentioned, sighing.

"Okay, Yug, what did you wanna do? Tristan and I are still sticking to taking her out to drink." Joey told him, as he took a swig of his orange soda.

"Maybe we should take her out somewhere...you know like out to dinner, and maybe we could all just do whatever she wants to do." Yugi suggested, picking up his phone, "I tried calling her, but she won't answer."

Serenity almost choked on her water. She immediately felt guilty, seeing as how she knew that Tea was out to dinner with Seto right now, and she told her that she was most likely spending the night over at the mansion. If they found out that Tea and Seto were dating, everyone would freak out.

"Well, haven't you been hanging out with her babe?" Tristan asked Serenity, as she snapped out of her trance.

"Yeah. I mean, I think she might be getting ready for her mom to arrive in Domino. Her mom is flying in from England and she's supposed to pick her up from the airport at midnight." Serenity told them, feeling grateful that she remembered. She knew that Tea had been cleaning their house all day because she knew her mother liked a clean house when she came home from business trips.

"That explains why she won't pick up her phone." Joey mentioned, looking at the time on his phone, "I gotta go guys. I gotta be to work at ten."

"Bye guys." Serenity said, picking up her purse.

"Awww, you're gonna leave without giving me a kiss?" Tristan asked, waiting for a kiss from his girlfriend.

"Bye, Tristan." Serenity told him, before the door to the game shop closed.

* * *

After their peaceful, romantic dinner, Tea and Seto headed out to the airport to pick up her mother. During the car ride there, Tea had thought more about her dinner with Seto. No guy had ever taken her out to dinner the way Seto had. Since they finished dinner early, he took her out on a walk around Remington Park. They chatted about random things, like school, music, art, and just about anything that came to their minds. For Tea, it made her feel good to know that even though they were complete opposites of each other, but they had so much in common.

"You're awfully quiet." Seto said, snapping her out of her trance.

"I'm just thinking...about things." Tea told him, rubbing her eye.

"Would those thoughts include your attraction to me?" He questioned, raising a brow.

"Maybe." Tea smirked, earning a chuckle from him.

"If only I weren't driving right now, you'd totally be mine right now." Seto responded, seductively.

"Who knows, maybe after we drop my mom off at home, we can have some well deserved alone time. After all, it'll be one of my birthday presents." Tea grinned, knowing that she was having an effect on her boyfriend.

_Damn, this woman doesn't know the effect she has on me, _Seto thought, gripping the steering wheel tightly. He knew that he could take her right then and there if he wanted to, but his conscience was holding him back. It would be a little bit stupid to have sex with his girlfriend in the back of the car when he was supposed to be picking up her mother at the airport.

"You look a little flustered. What's wrong?" Tea asked, noticing a faint blush come across his cheeks.

"Nothing." He lied, trying to hid his blush.

"Are you nervous because you're meeting my mom? It's okay, there's nothing for you to be nervous about. I thought you'd love her, seeing as how you're both business people." Tea reminded him, trying to make him feel better.

"Being business people, as you so put it, only poses as a common interest." Seto corrected, plainly.

"My point is that you need to relax. My mom will love you." Tea added, rolling her eyes playfully.

"I hope you're right. Look at me, Seto Kaiba, getting nervous about meeting my girlfriend's mom." He grumbled, as they arrived at the airport.

"I'll go inside, and you can find somewhere to park." Tea told him, grabbing her purse before she shut the door to his black BMW.

After walking for a little bit, Tea went on a search for the terminal her mother was in. After looking around for another ten minutes, she saw her brunette haired mother running towards her.

"Tea, honey! I've missed you so much!" Mrs. Gardner exclaimed, hugging her daughter.

"I've missed you too, Mama. Come on, let's go." Tea smiled, walking with her mother to where the luggage was located.

"So, who is this boyfriend of yours that you can't seem to stop telling me about? Is he handsome?" Mrs. Gardner asked, curiously.

"As a matter of fact, he's beyond handsome and I think you'll like him once you get to know him." Tea told her, helping her mother carry her luggage.

"Well, I'm glad you met someone who loves you, dear. I haven't seen you so happy in a while." Mrs. Gardner mentioned, still feeling happy for her daughter. She knew that the last two years for Tea wasn't particularly easy. She spent that time moping over another boy, Atem, who was related to Yugi. It made her feel terrible that as a mother, she couldn't be at home to comfort her daughter, due to her job being so demanding. Her job, however, didn't keep her from hoping and praying that good things would come to her child.

"Yeah. He makes me really happy. I mean, I never thought after Atem leaving that I would even consider dating, but I guess things can change." Tea responded, as she found Seto by the exit.

"And I'm guessing by the smile on your face that's him, right?" Mrs. Gardner asked, raising a curious brow.

"Yes, it is." Tea smiled, noticing that they caught his attention.

"Got everything?" He asked.

"Yeah. Mama, this is Seto Kaiba. Seto, this is my mom, Kimberly Gardner." Tea introduced, happily.

"It's finally a pleasure to meet you. Tea can't stop talking about you." Mrs. Gardner replied, shaking his hand.

"The pleasure's mine." Seto responded, shaking her hand as well.

"Well, Tea, could you be a dear and put my luggage in the trunk while I talk to Seto?" Mrs. Gardner asked, pulling Seto aside. Before Seto was out of sight, he gave Tea a nervous look.

"You wouldn't happen to be giving me that whole speech about if I hurt your daughter, you're going to kill me, right?" Seto asked, feeling like an idiot for being so nervous.

"Oh no, of course not. Well, now that you mention it, just don't do it or I will be forced to chop your balls off," Mrs. Gardner pointed out, making Seto's eyes grow to the size of saucers, "But I really wanted to thank you. The last time I saw her, she was still grieving over another guy, and I felt bad that I had to be away from her while she was suffering."

Seto remembered briefly what she was talking about. To his disliking, she had been moping over Atem leaving for the last two years. Though he had his opinions about him, it didn't matter anymore. He had Tea and that was all that mattered to him.

"It's no problem, Mrs. Gardner. You've raised a good daughter. She's the only person that I've known with a heart of gold, other than my brother." Seto said, somewhat smiling.

"Well, it wasn't easy. I had to do the best I could after her father left. I know that she resents her father for leaving and getting remarried, but I know that she resents me too, to a certain extent. I wasn't around as much as I should have, but I had to work twice as hard to make up for her father leaving. I just wish she knew how badly I feel for not being around. I couldn't teach her what a mother should have taught their daughters. Maybe if I would have taught her the right things, maybe she would have expected heartbreak as a part of finding love, and maybe she wouldn't have suffered as much as she did." Mrs. Gardner explained, sadly.

It broke Seto's heart to hear her talk about her regrets. He could feel for her pain, since he went through the same thing with Mokuba. When he took over Kaiba Corp, he had to work so hard to take care of Mokuba. Ever since he was fourteen years old, he'd been working. All the long, endless meetings, the project launches, everything. There were some nights where he got little to no sleep, and the next thing he knew he was on flights back and forth to different countries. He hated that he had to leave Mokuba alone sometimes. The only difference between himself and Kim was that Mokuba was always there because they were brothers, while Tea had no siblings. Kim was Tea's rock, and without Kim, she had no one.

_Now I understand why she was always preaching about friendship. Her friends and her mother was all she had, _Seto thought, feeling a little bad inside. All those years of making fun of her and the rest of the Geek Squad, and she had to listen to it all.

"You know, it's not always easy being an adult. Raising Mokuba for seven years of my life has taught me that you have to make sacrifices, no matter how tough it may seem. There were a lot of opportunities that was given to me, but I had to think of Mokuba before I could do anything for myself. I'd been offered full rides to the most prodigious colleges in the country and even overseas. I had to deny them because, if I went to school full time, there was absolutely no way I could run Kaiba Corp at the same time. So, I wouldn't feel bad necessarily. I think Tea knows that everything you did, you did for her." Seto responded, watching Tea pull up the BMW up to the door.

"Thank you, for listening to me, Seto. It's been a while since I've actually sat down and talked with someone." Mrs. Gardner mentioned, as the two of them walked out the car.

"It's nothing, really. I'm used to doing it with Mokuba." Seto replied. He felt somewhat better. He knew his girlfriend just a little bit better now, and vowed to never take her for granted.

* * *

**Well another chapter done! I really enjoyed writing the heart to heart between Tea's mom and Seto. You can always learn a lot from someone older and wiser. But anyway, I'm going to try and update more, now that I'm an official alumni of my high school :) Just a head's up, there will be drama in the next chapter. Toodles!**

**Cherriez**


	7. Birthday Parties

**So, I realized that my time of freedom is very limited right now because I only have about a month of freedom before I start school, so I'm going to try and update as much as I can. Again, thanks for the support and love guys!**

_"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired"_

_~Robert Frost_

Birthday Parties

* * *

_"I remember twenty one years ago, when I sat in the hospital bed after twenty two hours in labor. I held my beautiful little girl in my arms and cried with joy. From then on I watched you grow right before my eyes. Your first words and first steps I'll never forget. The day you told me you wanted to be a ballerina after your father and I took you to the ballet in town. I watched your first ballet recital and clapped like a maniac in comparison to others around me. I had the unfortunate pleasure of putting you through hell when your father left. I watched you perservere and pull through the turmoil. I had the greatest pleasure watching you graduate as valedictorian of your class. More importantly, I get to see you mature more into a beautiful young woman. I'm proud of you Tea Elayne, and I'm happy that we get to share your twenty first birthday."_

_Awww, Mama always knows how to put the most heartfelt words in a birthday card, _Tea thought, setting her creme and pink colored birthday card on her nightstand. Over the course of the last week, Tea had been getting birthday cards through the mail from her family and friends. Normally, Tea didn't like to make a big deal about her birthday, since she really didn't want people to go through all the trouble of having to find her a gift or taking her out anywhere. Though she appreciated, she stuck to her modest nature.

After washing her face and patting it dry, Tea went downstairs to see her mother just walking in from the garage.

"Happy Birthday, sweetie! I got you some Starbucks and Panera bagels." Mrs. Gardner chirped, setting the stuff down and giving her daughter a hug and kiss.

"Thanks, Mama. Wait...where did all these flowers come from?" Tea asked, looking around the living room. All around the living room were vases full of roses and lilies and attached to some of them were baby pink balloons. In the middle of the coffee table was a card, that had her name written in a recognizable, fancy script.

"I don't know, baby, but these weren't here when I woke up this morning, but I can take a guess at who the culprit may be." Mrs. Gardner responded, just now realizing the beautiful display existed.

"Seto." They managed to say at the same time. After Mrs. Gardner started opening the case of bagels, Tea picked up the card and looked at it.

_I know we haven't been dating really long, but it still doesn't mean that I'm thankful for you being born into the world and also coming into my life. I wish you a happy birthday, Tea._

_~Seto and Mokuba_

_P.S. Mokuba wanted me to take the time and effort to mention that he didn't write the mushy stuff -_-_

"He's so corny, but I love him." Tea muttered, setting the card back down and smelling the freshly picked lilies.

"He really is a sweet boy. You've got yourself a good one," Mrs. Gardner smiled, handing her a chocolate chip bagel with cream cheese, "Do you have any plans for today?"

"Other than going to the mall with Serenity, I don't think I have anything to do," Tea replied, hearing her phone ring, "Maybe I spoke too soon...hi!"

_"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEA!" _She heard Mokuba shout, making her eardrum start ringing.

"Ahhhh, thanks, Mokuba...even though you kind of just hurt my ear a little bit." Tea told him, still wincing, "Where's your brother?"

"_He's trying to take his phone away from me, but he's right nex..._," Mokuba said, before she heard something drop. For a minute she could hear the two boys wrestling, until she could hear someone breathing into the phone.

"_Finally...as I was going to say, happy birthday._" Seto said, finally managing to get his phone back from his younger sibling.

"Thank you. The flowers are really beautiful by the way," She told him, holding one of the flowers in her hand, "Just out of curiosity, how did you get in my house?"

"_Mokuba seemed to have figured out where your mother hides the spare key._" Seto responded, plainly.

"Well, though I appreciate the sweet gesture, can we agree on not breaking and entering into my house? It kind of freaks me out." Tea smiled, trying not to laugh.

"_I can live with that...possibly. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get lucky and catch you with little to no clothing on._" Seto added, making Tea gasp.

"Shut up, my mom's in the other room and you're really loud. She doesn't want to hear how you want to see me naked." Tea whispered, while still scolding her boyfriend.

"_Come on, is it really so wrong of me to want to see you naked? Not that I'm a perverted freak or anything, but I am a guy._" Seto reasoned, making Tea roll her eyes.

"One more thing about me being naked, and I'm hanging up on you." Tea laughed, thinking of how ridiculous he was being.

"_Hn. I'll send a car for you later on. I need to take Mokuba to...well he rather me not tell anyone, but he needs some ointment for his special problem._" Seto lied, smoothly.

"Oh..okay. I wish you good luck finding that ointment." Tea told him, before hanging up, "Seto's meeting up with me after I go to the mall with Serenity."

"Awww, I see you getting all lovey dovey over your man." Mrs. Gardner giggled, spreading cream cheese over her bagel.

"I can't help it. That boy gets me going." Tea replied, trying to control herself.

"Not that I'm trying to be too forward about this, but have you two had sex?" Mrs. Gardner asked, making Tea stop chewing on her bagel.

For Tea, it was really hard to lie to her mother. She knew that her father lied a lot to her mother, and she wasn't really the type to lie to someone, "Well...ummm, yes. That's kind of how we got together."

"Though I'm happy that you two are together, try not to do it so much in the future. I just don't want all your dreams and goals to go down the drain." Mrs. Gardner told her.

"I understand. It was kind of a in the moment thing. One minute we were arguing in French and then the next thing I know, I'm in his bed getting some heated Seto Kaiba lovin'." Tea explained, feeling a little weird talking to her mother about having sex with her boyfriend.

"Well, just as long as you understand, go get ready. Don't let me hold you up with my curiosity." Mrs. Gardner said, shooing her daughter off.

xxx

Further in town, Seto and Mokuba were far from looking for any ointment. The two brothers spent the last ten minutes looking through a good music store. Seto knew that Tea had been looking for this limited edition, black Les Paul acoustic guitar. He knew how badly she wanted it, but knew she couldn't afford it and had been working so hard to save the money.

"Finally, after looking around three different times," Seto murmurred, staring at the black guitar hanging on display, "Even I have to admit, this is a pretty nice guitar."

"Yeah, it ought to be nice for five grand." Mokuba told him, looking closely at the price tag.

"Mokuba, I have so much money I don't know what to do with it." Seto said, taking the guitar down from the display. While Seto was paying for the guitar, Mokuba got a call from Mrs. Gardner.

"Hold on, it's Kim...hello?" Mokuba asked, moving towards the door of the store.

"_Hi, Mokuba, I wanted to tell you and your brother that I'm throwing Tea a surprise party later on tonight. She's already out at the mall with Serenity for the next few hours, but do you both think you could play along?_" Mrs. Gardner asked, sounding a little on edge.

"Sure, Kim, we don't mind helping. We just got Tea's gift, so she can stay over at the mansion until you get done...okay..see you later. Bye." Mokuba responded, putting his phone back in his pocket, "Kim says she'll call when she wants us to come by with Tea."

"Fine. Let's go...because I oddly want some ice cream." Seto mentioned, plainly.

"There's that creamery we like down the street. I'm game for going." Mokuba told him, as they approached the car.

* * *

While at the mall, Tea and Serenity spent the last hour shopping at their favorite stores. At the moment, Tea was looking through really cute dresses. Normally, Tea didn't shop for a lot of dresses. She always had the basics. The little black and little white dresses, a sexy pair of heels, and countless thongs at her disposal.

"Wow, Tea, that dress is a little..saucy." Serenity commented, looking at the red, v-neck dress in Tea's hands.

"Hey, you never what Seto might have up his sleeves. I need to be prepared to make him go crazy over me," Tea smirked, continuing to look through the rack, "Plus tonight I'm just going to wear my Haus of GaGa shirt and ripped up skinny jeans."

"Tea, that's so like you. Why don't you wear something cute? Like a cute little skirt...or maybe a nice top or something...that's not so casual. It's your birthday for crying out loud." Serenity told her, rolling her eyes.

"Look, Seto likes me just the way I am. Maybe I'll wear something casual, yet kind of dressy." Tea told her, heading towards the dressing room.

"So...what are you going to do at Seto's? I think I have a good feeling what that is." Serenity giggled, waggling her eyebrows.

"Serenity! I'm not going to...you know, have sex with him while his little brother is around. That last time that happened, everyone heard and Mokuba spent a week in a half cracking jokes." Tea whispered, trying not to mention his name in public. So far, everything was going great with Tea and Seto's relationship not going public. She remembered she still had yet to tell her friends that she and Seto were dating. It wasn't so much that she couldn't tell Yugi or Tristan, but Joey was a different story. Him and Seto have never seen eye to eye, which was painfully obvious.

_I wish it could stay that way, but I know eventually it'll get out, but hopefully that's when we're farther in our relationship, _She thought, changing into a dark purple party dress, that had an sparkly costume jewel in the center. While Tea looked in the mirror, she saw how much the dress accentuated her curves. She was starting to develop an hourglass like figure. Her bust and area below the waist were noticeable.

"Well, I mean...what if he wants to do it?" Serenity asked, curiously.

"I seriously doubt it. He'll probably wait until Mokuba isn't home or something...who knows," Tea responded, casually, "I'll be at the counter."

Once she paid for all her stuff, Tea realized that she was leaving the store with five bags. The receipt read two hundred and fifteen dollars, but thankfully she got a whole lot more since she shopped the clearance rack.

"Geez, Tea, what's wrong...do you only have a few weeks to live? That's the most I've seen you shop in a long time." Serenity commented, shortly joining her seconds later.

"No, its just I got lucky that there was a lot of good stuff." Tea smiled, as they continued their ventures around the mall.

xxx

Since Seto had last minute things to take care of at KaibaCorp, Mokuba drove to 9th street to pick up Tea's birthday cake. After Mokuba locked the Porsche, he saw a couple girls walking down the street who were smiling at him. He could have sworn one of them said that he was cute, but continued to walk into the cake shop.

"Hi, welcome to Leslie's." The girl greeted, smiling.

"Hi, I have an order for Kaiba." Mokuba told her, taking his sunglasses off.

"Oh, that's right here," The girl chirped, setting the cake on the counter, "I have to say, whoever's birthday is today, she sure is a lucky girl."

"Oh my God, that cake is awesome." Mokuba said, in complete awe. The cake was in the shape of a white grand piano, with black treble and bass clefs and in the center it said 'Happy Birthday Tea'. Before it could be packaged, Mokuba took out his phone and took a picture to send to Kim, Yugi, and Seto.

"Yeah, they worked really hard on it. I'll pack it up for you," She said, taking out a white box, "You know, those girls outside earlier really looked like they were into you, huh?"

"Oh, uhhh, I don't know. Those girls really aren't my type anyway. They probably just recognize me because of my brother." Mokuba muttered, plainly.

"Well, what is your type?" The girl asked, curiously.

"Pretty much anyone who's not concerned with just having sex and only cares about how they look." Mokuba mentioned, making her laugh, "I'm sorry...I didn't get your name."

"Meagan." She told him, handing him the bag with the receipt, "Maybe we'll bump into each other again."

"Yeah...maybe." Mokuba told her, heading out the door.

* * *

After three hours of getting ready, Tea finally arrived at the mansion. She took Serenity's advice and decided to wear something a little cute. She wore a dark red cardigan with a white tank top that said 'C'est chic', black leggings, and black booties. After letting herself in, Mokuba immediately popped in.

"Happy Birthday, Tea!" Mokuba greeted, almost tackling her.

"Thanks, Mokuba." She smiled, giving him a hug.

"Seto's in the living room." He told her, while she set her purse down. She walked into the huge living room and noticed that the fireplace was lit and there were two gifts resting near the coffee table.

"Hey, good lookin'." Tea greeted, noticing him turn around.

"Happy Birthday. I have to say, for someone who doesn't care about what they look all the time, you look beautiful." Seto told her, kissing her lips.

"You really know how to make a girl feel special. Thank you." Tea responded, sitting on the couch and resting her legs in his lap.

"It's time for you to open presents. Mine first." Mokuba interrupted, handing her a blue envelope.

"Wow, two round trip tickets to Paris. Thanks, Mokuba!" Tea chirped, happily, "I'm assuming you didn't get this companion ticket for my mom, did you?"

"One thing I learned is to never buy and tell." Mokuba commented, while Seto grunted at his comment.

"Well, moving right along, I think you'll like this." Seto told her, handing her his gift. While Tea unwrapped it, she could recognize what it was before she got all the wrapping off of it.

"Oh my God, no way! Its the Les Paul acoustic I wanted...I can't believe you remembered!" She exclaimed, running her left hand along the fingerboard, "This had to have been a bitch to pay for though."

"It was only five grand." Seto murmurred, rubbing her back.

"Yeah, you can easily make five thousand dollars in a day. I don't even make that in a year with the two jobs that I have," Tea giggled, playing a couple chords on her guitar, "Thank you. I love it."

While Mokuba was occupied on his iPad, he glanced up to see Tea and his brother making out, "Awww, come on! I don't want to watch, let alone _hear_ you two making out! Yeah, I'm just gonna be in the car."

xxx

For the last two and a half hours, Mrs. Gardner along with Yugi and the others were putting the finishing touches onto Tea's surprise party. While the guys were out getting beverages for the party, Serenity and Tristin, Yugi's girlfriend, was helping Mrs. Gardner set the table for everyone to have dinner.

"Oh, great, Tea and Seto are on their way." Mrs. Gardner told Serenity, getting out glasses from the cabinet.

"I'm so excited. I don't know why, but I am." Tristin murmurred, setting down another fork.

"Serenity, do you know if the guys know that Tea and Seto are dating?" Mrs. Gardner asked, curiously while setting the table.

"Ummmm, honestly, Mrs. Gardner...none of them know. Tea's been really scared...not so much because of Yugi and Tristan, but I think she's worried about my brother." Serenity admitted, setting the last plate down.

"I figured. Tea's told me all the stories about Joey not seeing eye to eye with Seto. Seto's a really nice boy, to me at least," Mrs. Gardner responded, sighing a little bit, "I just hope maybe they can get along...for Tea's sake."

"Hey! We're back with tha drinks!" Joey shouted, shutting the door.

"It's about time. I got concerned that my boyfriend was driving in the car with you behind the wheel." Tristin said, hugging Yugi.

"It wasn't as bad as it's know to be, Tris." Yugi told her, kissing her forehead.

"Hey! I'm not that bad of a driver!" Joey exclaimed, listening to Tristan snicker, "I'm not!"

"It's okay, Joey, we still love you." Serenity told him, helping Mrs. Gardner set the table.

"When can we eaaaatttt? I'm starving and the grub looks awesome." Joey whined, hearing his stomach growl.

"Is that all you think about is food?" Yugi asked, rolling his eyes.

"I made all of Tea's favorite food." Mrs. Gardner responded, hearing a car outside, "Oh, Tea must be here."

After hearing a key move around, Tea appeared through the door while everyone screamed, "SURPRISE!"

"Wow, all the yelling I've heard in one day. You guys sure know how to make a girl feel special." Tea said, smiling, realizing that everyone got quiet suddenly, "Uhhhh, guys...,"

Once she realized what was going on, she looked behind her at Seto and Mokuba. And yes, for Tea, this was truly an awkward moment.

* * *

**Ohhhhh, poor Tea...but, we've all had those awkward moments with our families and boyfriends huh? Well...I haven't, but I can kind of picture it :) Well, until next time, happy reading everyone!**

**Cherriez**


End file.
